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 Policy Engagement Overview: Hyundai Steel appears to have been actively engaged with climate change regulations in South Korea but have a mixture of positive and negative engagement with climate change regulations in South Korea. It has expressed top-line support for climate action, and has expressed broad support for South Korea's national 2050 net-zero and 2030 GHG emissions reduction targets. However, Hyundai Steel has engaged negatively with the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: InfluenceMap found limited evidence of top-line messaging on climate policy by Hyundai Steel. In a July 2023 Aju Business Daily article, Hyundai Steel supported government regulation to respond to climate change, mentioning that active support from the government is urgently needed to achieve carbon neutrality. However, in his 2023 New Year address published in the Global Economic newspaper, Hyundai Steel CEO An Tong-il supported carbon neutrality in the steel sector without clearly defining time-frames for transition.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Hyundai Steel has some engagement with specific climate regulations in Korea and abroad. In a March 2022 Steel & Metal News article, Hyundai Steel broadly supported South Korea's national 2050 net-zero and 2030 GHG emissions reduction targets. However, in its public consultation comments on the reporting obligations of the EU CBAM submitted to the EU Commission in July 2023, Hyundai Steel did not appear to support the CBAM and stating that the proposed reporting requirements during the transitional period “should not be punitive.” In its response to the 2023 CDP Climate Change Information Request, Hyundai Steel did not provide an answer regarding its positions on any climate policies.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Hyundai Steel has taken mixed positions on the low-carbon energy transition, supporting a transition towards renewable energy and the development of technologies to decarbonize the steel sector, but also appearing to emphasize concerns around economic competitiveness and costs. In a December 2022 Korea Iron and Steel Association (KOSA) Steel Paper op-ed, a team leader at Hyundai Steel advocated for the need for government policies on offshore wind power. However, according a press release by the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) in February 2023, at the Carbon Neutral Technology Development Roundtable, participants including Hyundai Steel emphasized concerns around economic competitiveness and cost in transitioning towards a low carbon economy, stating that “regulation-centered carbon reduction may be accompanied by side effects such as negative growth.”
Industry Association Governance: Hyundai Steel has disclosed a list of its industry association memberships in its 2023 Integrated Report, but has not disclosed an account of its industry associations' positions and engagement activities. The company holds membership to Korea International Trade Association (KITA), which has engaged negatively with a number of specific climate-related regulations, including the EU CBAM, Korea Emissions Trading Scheme (K-ETS), and South Korea’s 2030 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). In its 2023 CDP Climate Change response, Hyundai Steel disclosed its membership to the Korea Iron and Steel Association (KOSA) but with limited details. KOSA appears to engage negatively with climate policy in South Korea and the EU, and the Executive Director of Hyundai Steel is the Chairman of the Steel Promotion Committee of KOSA. The Executive Director of Hyundai Steel is a member of the Environment & Climate Committee of Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), which has engaged negatively with climate regulation in South Korea.