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: Santos actively supports the continued role for fossil fuels in the energy mix, particularly fossil gas, despite positive top-line messaging on climate change. There is limited evidence of engagement by Santos on specific climate-related regulation. The company retains memberships to several industry associations which engage negatively on climate policy in Australian such as the Australian Energy Producers and the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Santos appears to have broadly positive but limited top-line communications on climate change. In Santos’ 2022 Climate Change Report, published in March 2023, the company recognized the need to limit global warming to 1.5°C and stated support for the Paris Agreement.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Santos does not appear to support specific climate-related policies in recent years. In a June 2023 letter to policymakers, CEO Kevin Gallagher appeared to oppose the reforms of the Safeguard Mechanism, advocating for policymakers to reconsider and to apply changes to the Safeguard Mechanism to new facilities only and not to any existing facilities. He also appeared to not support the final Safeguard Mechanism design, stating in an April 2023 AFR article that the reforms had created ‘sovereign risk issues’.
It is unclear whether Santos is supportive of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions reductions targets. In a November 2023 letter to policymakers, Gallagher stated that he 'understands the imperative to meet the 43 percent emissions' reduction target by 2030' without indicating support for the target.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Santos continues to advocate for the role of fossil fuels in the energy mix. In the company's 2023 Climate Change Report, it emphasized the long-term role of natural gas without acknowledging the need for emissions abatement. The Australian Financial Review (AFR) reported in December 2023 that Santos had lobbied the Northern Territory government to oppose proposed net-zero requirements for oil and gas developments. In its submissions to the consultation on the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism extension in July 2022, Santos called for the removal of moratoriums on fossil gas development in NSW and Victoria. Additionally, in March 2022, Santos testified at the Senate inquiry into oil and gas exploration in the Beetaloo Basin, where it supported the continued use of fossil gas and advocated for ongoing government subsidies for its extraction. Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher reiterated his support for fossil gas in a July 2023 AFR article, where he criticized the IEA’s net-zero report, stating it has "given a tool to a lot of activists to drive their agendas." In a May 2023 Australian article, he asserted that "gas, not renewables, is the main game."
Industry Association Governance: Santos published its 2023 industry association review in February 2024. While the company has published a partial account of its industry associations' positions and engagement activities on specific climate-related policies, it appears to only cover top-line positions from the associations. Santos excludes material evidence of indirect climate policy engagement identified by InfluenceMap's database, such as the Australian Energy Producers opposition to policy measures to reduce fossil gas demand in November 2023 or the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia (CME) opposition to the Safeguard Mechanism in February 2023. Santos disclosed its board positions at the Asia Natural Gas and Energy Association (ANGEA), Australian Industry Greenhouse Network (AIGN), Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia (CME) and Australian Energy Producers.
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.