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: In 2022-24, United Airlines is strategically engaged on climate policy, with positive engagement on 2050 net-zero targets and consistent support for US sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) blenders tax credits. However, United is negatively engaged on other strands of climate policy, including sustainability criteria for SAFs, and retains memberships to negatively engaged industry associations.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: United's 2022 Climate Lobbying report, released in 2022 supported net-zero aviation emissions by 2050 and stated support for the goals of the Paris Agreement. Similarly, United’s 2023 Corporate Responsibility Report, released in July 2024, stated that it supported the industry-wide 2050 net-zero emissions target. However, in this report, United appeared to support government regulation in response to climate change with major exceptions, including that policies rationalize tax burdens, reduce unnecessary regulation, enhance competitiveness and are cost-effective.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: United supported policies promoting sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) in 2022-24. Through the ‘SAF BTC Coalition’ United supported the US sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) blenders tax credit in February 2023 regulatory comments and the Clean Fuel Production Credit in December 2022 regulatory comments. United disclosed support for the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) blenders tax credit in its 2022 Climate Lobbying Report. United’s 2023 Corporate Responsibility Report, accessed in July 2024, stated that United ‘helped to found and lead a coalition…in successfully advocating for the enactment of the first SAF-specific tax credit’, alongside supporting Illinois’ SAF tax credit and Colorado’s Investment tax credit. United CEO, Scott Kirby, also supported the federal SAF tax credit in a November 2023 Politico article. According to a November 2023 Cirium report, United supported federal SAF tax credits, alongside tax credits proposed in Minnesota, Colorado, Illinois and Washington.
However, through the ‘SAF BTC Coalition’, United appeared to advocate for weaker sustainability criteria for SAFs to protect land-based carbon stores under the SAF blenders tax credit and Clean Fuel Producers Credit in February 2023 and December 2022 US consultation responses. In a November 2023 joint letter United appeared to support weaker SAF sustainability criteria under the SAF blenders tax credit. United further supported the Farm to Fly act, a measure that promotes aviation fuel produced from agricultural crops, in an April 2024 joint letter, without specifying the need for stringent sustainability criteria to protect land-based carbon stores. In its 2023 Corporate Responsibility Report, accessed in July 2024, United further appeared to support the production of SAFs from ethanol and fuel crops, without acknowledging land-based trade-offs. Similarly, United’s 2023 10-K report advocated for ‘ethanol-based SAF to qualify for IRA tax credits’, a fuel commonly produced from corn.
In a May 2023 Politico article, United CEO, Scott Kirby, reportedly supported a US carbon tax and carbon border adjustment mechanism. More negatively, in its 2023 CDP response, United disclosed that it directly advocated for a 2019 baseline for the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) from 2024 onwards, the weakest baseline considered, instead of the more ambitious, adopted baseline of 85% of 2019 emissions.
Position on Energy Transition: In a May 2023 Politico article, United CEO, Scott Kirby, supported the increased use of SAF. United’s 2022 Climate Lobbying Report supported the electrification of the airline industry and the expanded use of green hydrogen. United’s 2023 Corporate Responsibility Report, accessed in July 2024, also supported the increased use of SAF, alongside a switch to short-haul aviation powered by renewable electricity, and aircraft powered by green hydrogen, in the longer-term.
However, in its 2023 10K report, published in February 2023, United appeared to oppose regulations that ‘require airlines to reduce flights or impose the cost of transition to low-carbon alternatives disproportionately on airlines’. Furthermore, according to a July 2023 KLM press release, United opposed Amsterdam’s Court of Appeal’s approval of the flight cap at Schiphol airport and launched legal action against the Court.
Industry Association Governance: In 2022, United published its first review of its industry association memberships and their alignment on climate change. The review does not appear to have been updated since. This report disclosed United’s board-level membership to the US Chamber of Commerce, Airlines for America (A4A) and International Air Transport Association (IATA), all of which are strategically and negatively engaged on climate policy, alongside Business Roundtable, which has both positive and negative engagement on US climate regulation. United did not identify any areas of misalignment with its industry associations. Although not disclosed in the report, a United senior executive is a board member of the California Chamber of Commerce which is strategically and negatively engaged on climate policy.
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.