Corporate transition plans drive policy advocacy up the agenda
Dominic Gogol, Director of Advocacy Initiatives
In the face of challenging geopolitical headwinds, policy advocacy continues to rise up the corporate agenda. Advocacy is increasingly being seen as an essential tool for businesses that want to become more resilient and capture new opportunities. Therefore the role of Responsible Policy Engagement (RPE) becomes all the more important for companies.
From gathering corporate leaders to connect on tactics and strategies to leveraging the influence of business groups to call for stronger uptake of corporate advocacy standards, we take stock of recent developments from the We Mean Business Coalition to help encourage more corporate leaders into the advocacy arena, as well as what to expect from our RPE work in the months ahead.
Insights from London Climate Action Week
A main takeaway from LCAW was that corporates are getting to grips with their transition plans and recognizing the value of policy engagement to assist their delivery. Companies were clear that regionally nuanced, targeted engagement on specific policy asks is becoming a critical component to achieving their decarbonization goals.
In a session hosted with our partner World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and thinktank Volans, we brought together leading corporates to discuss how they are moving beyond principles and actively putting policy engagement into practice. Conversations centered on the importance of achieving internal alignment on climate policy positions across regions and business units as well as effectively managing trade association relationships to ensure they amplify corporate commitments.
Additionally, as part of the International Climate Council Network’s Climate Governance Forum, we led a session on making the investor and business case for strong climate governance. We explored the intersection of climate governance, corporate transition planning and advocacy – hearing from Unilever on how targeted policy engagement is helping realize decarbonization objectives, and from the Church of England Pensions Board on why policy engagement is so critical to ensuring long-term resilience.
There was consensus around the growing need to ensure corporate action aligns with national goals and pathways and recognition that climate councils offer valuable insights to support that aim.
Driving improved corporate advocacy in the UNFCCC process
Ahead of LCAW, the Coalition, our founding partners and international business groups came together to launch a “Business Call for Accountability” at the UNFCCC Bonn Intersessional meetings.
Through this initiative, we sought to unify the voice of business groups around how companies and their trade groups should engage with the UNFCCC process. Our core asks are: 1) for multi-national corporations to report annually on their corporate advocacy activities (international and domestic) and 2) for trade groups to publicly disclose their climate policy positions.
We’re grateful for the support from business leaders and advocacy organizations who recognize the need to strengthen the policy engagement standards required for companies participating in UNFCCC processes. And we welcome the opportunity to engage with more business groups on this topic. To learn more or add your organization’s name to the Call for Accountability, please contact Jenny Stanley ([email protected]).
We look forward to continuing to elevate this Call in the lead up to this year’s COP.
New RPE Framework resources
We’re excited to announce that new resources are now available on the RPE webpage for companies looking to align their climate ambitions with their advocacy. Since its initial launch in 2023, the RPE Framework has provided foundational guidance for corporate climate advocacy. Our updated website now reflects the various new tools released over the past two years.
The newer resources include those developed by our Coalition team, including our Corporate Climate Policy Engagement Reporting Template, which was released earlier this year, as well as a recent analysis of corporate advocacy disclosures among early CSRD adopters. We also highlight the Mobilising Trade Associations Playbook, developed by WBCSD and Volans, that guides companies in aligning their trade associations with their corporate transition plans and climate policy objectives. Additionally, we now feature the latest examples of best-in-class corporate advocacy reporting by both Unilever and Iberdrola.
Looking ahead
We Mean Business Coalition and our partners are hosting several events at New York Climate Week, including a dedicated forum on Responsible Policy Engagement. We are also excited to be launching a new project, in partnership with WBCSD and Volans, that takes the lessons from their Playbook and puts them into action by bringing together companies to better engage their trade associations to the next level of implementation. We will be sharing more soon.
Additionally, we continue to drive corporate advocacy engagement across the EU in partnership with CLG Europe and we anticipate further corporate advocacy opportunities in the lead up to this year’s COP.
If you are interested in attending our events or learning more about our work, please reach out directly ([email protected]).