Scored evidence collected on an entity's engagement with land-use and circular economy policy will now be fully weighted into the final calculations for each entity's metrics. This follows a two year process where InfluenceMap has evolved its methodology to collect evidence on corporate and industry engagement with these key areas of climate-related policy.
We have strengthened the algorithm for discounting the impact older evidence on an organization's top-line metrics. Evidence from within the last two years is weighted the strongest and then gradually weighted out of the scoring calculations as it gets older. All evidence that is 5 years or older is completely removed from the scoring calculations. Users will still be able to view older evidence items that are archived the scoring matrix below, but these will not be impacting the organization's current scores.
In this section, we depict graphically the relationships the corporation has with trade associations, federations, advocacy groups and other third parties who may be acting on their behalf to influence climate change policy. Each of the columns above represents one relationship the corporation appears to have with such a third party. In these columns, the top, dark section represents the strength of the relationship the corporation has with the influencer. For example if a corporation's senior executive also held a key role in the trade association, we would deem this to be a strong relationship and it would be on the far left of the chart above, with the weaker ones to the right. Click on these grey shaded upper sections for details of these relationships. The middle section contains a link to the organization score details of the influencer concerned, so you can see the details of its climate change policy influence. Click on the middle sections for for details of the trade associations. The lower section contains the organization score of that influencer, the lower the more negatively it is influencing climate policy.
Climate Lobbying Overview: BMW has strategic and mostly negative engagement on climate regulation in 2022-24. While the company has positive top-line statements on climate, it has opposed policies to phase out ICE-powered vehicles in the EU and UK, including opposing an EU 2035 zero-emissions CO2 target for cars and vans.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: BMW expressed support for the goals of the Paris Agreement in its 2023 Annual Report, published in March 2024. It also appeared to support GHG emissions reductions in line with a 1.5°C target in a March 2023 social media post. BMW CEO, Oliver Zipse, supported the EU's Green Deal and 2050 targets in a June 2022 ACEA press release.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: BMW Group has repeatedly criticized CO2 standards for cars and vans in the EU in 2022-24. BMW stressed challenges associated with the EU’s 2035 zero-emissions standard for light-duty vehicles in its 2023 Climate Engagement Report, published in May 2024, while supporting the EU 2030’s light-duty vehicle CO2 target. BMW Group’s CEO, Oliver Zipse, also criticized the 2035 zero-emissions CO2 target in a May 2024 interview to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Zipse further emphasized the challenges associated with meeting the near-term 2025 EU CO2 target in a March 2024 Automotive News article. In May 2022, while France held the EU’s Council presidency, Politico reported that BMW’s CEO, Oliver Zipse, wrote a letter to French President Macron, urging him to delay introducing a zero-emissions CO2 target for vehicles until 2040. In June 2022, Zipse publicly opposed the European Parliament’s plenary vote in favor of the 2035 target in an ACEA press release.
In the US, in a July 2023 consultation response, BMW appeared unsupportive of proposed 2027 light- and medium-duty GHG emission standards, advocating to maintain credit programs that may reduce the stringency of the standards. In October 2023 US federal regulatory comments, BMW also advocated to reduce the stringency of Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards and to maintain flexibilities like off-cycle credits that further weaken the program.
In March 2024 regulatory comments, BMW advocated delaying the adoption of Australia’s proposed New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) until 2026, while generally supporting the regulation.
Positioning on Energy Transition: BMW appears to oppose ICE vehicle phase-out policies in multiple regions, while supporting measures promoting charging infrastructure expansion and electric vehicle purchase incentives. BMW’s CEO Oliver Zipse strongly criticized the EU’s 2035 ICE phase-out date in a May 2024 interview to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, advocating to revise the EU’s CO2 targets in a 2026 review. Similarly, in September 2023 comments to German newspaper Handelsblatt, Zipse opposed the EU 2035 ICE phase-out date. In a May 2023 UK consultation response, found via FOI request, BMW emphasized numerous concerns with a UK zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate and conditioned its support on meeting 'framework conditions'. In a September 2023 UK consultation response, BMW appeared to advocate to delay the UK's ICE phase-out date from 2030 to 2035, and appeared unsupportive of ICE phase-out dates generally. In an October 2022 Car Dealer Magazine article, BMW CEO, Oliver Zipse, directly opposed the UK's planned 2030 ICE vehicle phase-out target, warning that suppliers will leave the country if it goes ahead.
In its 2023 Climate Engagement Report, published in May 2024, BMW, conditioned support for electrifying light-duty road transport on multiple enabling conditions, notably expansion of charging infrastructure. In the EU, BMW, while supporting the EU’s Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation, has advocated in favor of “technology openness”, fuel-cell vehicles and ICE vehicles running on alternative fuels to achieve decarbonization targets over full electrification. In the US, BMW supported electric vehicle incentives such as Section 30D tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act in its May 2024 Climate Engagement Report. BMW also supported incorporating electric vehicles under the US Renewable Fuels Standard in February 2023 regulatory comments.
Industry Association Governance: BMW has published a 2024 industry association review. BMW CEO, Oliver Zipse, is on the board of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), which has both positive and negative engagement with EU climate regulations for road transport. Zipse also sits on the managing board of the German Automotive Association (VDA) and the presidential board of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), both of which appear to have negative engagement on EU and German climate policy. BMW retains memberships to several other oppositional groups, including Business Europe, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), Alliance for Automotive Innovation, and the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI).
A detailed assessment of the company's corporate review on climate policy engagement can be found on InfluenceMap's CA100+ Investor Hub here.
InfluenceMap collects and assesses evidence of corporate climate policy engagement on a weekly basis, depending on the availability of information from each specific data source (for more information see our methodology). While this analysis flows through to the company’s scores each week, the summary above is updated periodically. This summary was last updated in Q3 2024.