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: Suzuki appears to have broadly negative engagement with climate policy streams globally. Despite positive top-line messaging on climate policy, since 2022, the company appears unsupportive of the electrification of light-duty transportation and opposes regulatory efforts to increase the stringency of emission standards for vehicles in India.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Suzuki has generally positive top-line messaging on climate policy and regulation. In 2023 Sustainability report published in November 2023, Suzuki supported GHG emissions reduction in line with 2℃, Indian government’s carbon neutrality target of 2070. In the same report, it supported the goals of the Paris Agreement while it did not express a clear position on the need for the climate change regulation.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Suzuki had mostly negative engagement on climate policies globally since 2022. In India, in March 2022 in Economic Times article, Kenichi Ayukawa, the former CEO of Maruti Suzuki, an Indian subsidiary of Suzuki, stated that the automotive industry has been pushing back against CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency) II emission norms in India. Outlook India also reported that Suzuki appeared to advocate for the “correct accounting” of ethanol in Indian CAFE standards in December 2022. More positively, a June 2022 Business Standard news article reported that a Maruti Suzuki senior executive expressed support for Indian government investment in renewable energy. A Renewable Matter article published in August 2023 also reported that Suzuki joined an initiative of the Resource Efficiency Circular Economy Industry Coalition (RECEIC) to take action and introduce sustainable solutions for our planet's well-being and future.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Suzuki appeared unsupportive of the electrification of light duty transport and the transition of the energy mix. According to a statement reported in a May 2023 Bloomberg article, Suzuki CEO Toshihiro Suzuki appeared to be unsupportive of the full electrification of light duty transport in India, stating that world is “a little too focused on electric vehicles”. In a July 2024 DriveSpark article, Maruti Suzuki Chairman, RC Bhargava, supported ICE-powered hybrids over rapid electrification in India, stating that hybrids emit less carbon than EVs due to the country’s heavy reliance on coal-generated electricity. In a June 2024 The Hindu article Banerjee, a senior executive officer, appeared to support all technologies to be covered for the reduction of oil imports as well as total CO2 emissions. An August 2024 Reuters article also suggested that Maruti Suzuki had advocated in support of a Uttar Pradesh government proposal to reduce registration taxes for ICE (internal combustion engine) -powered hybrids purchases in the region.
In a January 2024 Autocar Professional article, the CTO of Maruti Suzuki, CV Raman, advocated for a longer-term role for ICE/CNG-powered vehicles over full electrification while stating that "EVs will grow but a substantial portion will still be catered by ICE, alternate fuels and HEVs". Likewise, in a March 2024 ET Auto article, the CEO of Suzuki, Toshihiro Suzuki, questioned whether EVs alone could meet decarbonization goals, advocating instead for multi-pathway approaches tailored to particular places and situations.
Industry Association Governance: Suzuki has partially disclosed its membership to industry associations on its Sustainability Report 2023, however, it has not published a review of its industry association memberships and climate policy engagement. The company is a member of multiple trade associations negatively engaged on climate change policy globally. Suzuki’s CEO is currently Vice-Chair of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) which has mostly negative engagement on climate policy in Japan and globally. In the US, Suzuki is a member of the US Chamber of Commerce and Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which have broadly negative engagement on US climate policy. Suzuki is also a member of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers in India and the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries in Australia, all of which have evidence of negative engagement with climate policy for light-duty vehicles in their respective regions.
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.