This report outlines the general context and case for companies to participate in climate policy debates. It details five core elements of responsible engagement, and offers three practical steps a company can take, concurrently, to have a constructive influence on governments and the [now superseded] goal of a maximum 1.5°C warming, whilst supporting the global economy.

Companies and business groups may face challenges when trying to involve themselves in the climate debate and the formulation of policy. Studies have shown that many companies strike an overwhelmingly defensive tone trying to maintain business as usual, while governments are concerned about business resistance to new policies. Some influential businesses are misinforming policymakers, such that Christiana Figueres, former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, describes them as “a serious group of companies that have a voice that is much louder, that is better funded, that operates much more in unison and that is still stuck in the technologies and the fuels of yesterday.” To influence climate policy, and reduce the impact of climate change, companies need a voice that is informed and equally compelling to governments.

There are five core elements of corporate engagement in climate policy:

• Legitimacy refers to a company’s approach, intentions and understanding of climate policy.
• Opportunity refers to how a company understands the benefits of climate policy and the available influence channels to shape and support those policies.
• Consistency involves aligning public and private interactions with policymakers, with coherent strategies that ensure a company’s direct and indirect influences accurately reflect climate science.
• Accountability typically refers to a company’s willingness and ability to act on its responsibilities to its shareholders, employees and the communities impacted (directly or indirectly) by its operations, products and services.
• Transparency is widely noted as an essential component of responsible engagement and includes publicising a company’s views on climate policy.

There are three actions to use the core elements:

• Identify implications, influences, and opportunities to engage.
• Align words with actions, ambitions and influences (both direct and indirect).
• Report on policy positions, influences and outcomes.

Business can be supportive, or they can be negative and obstruct policy action. If they are supportive, they need to abide by the elements and actions to ensure they are respected by the public; they cannot be inconsistent.

Most companies can make a compelling business case based on implications, whereby, with a climate policy, an informed public can choose to support organisations that care for the planet.

This report is designed to help companies inform and accelerate the policies most urgently needed to support a stable global economy. It is designed to help businesses engage in national and international debates, with a view to contribute to political progress on reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and adapt to disruptions in the global climate system.

Business support and policy endorsements are powerful. They provide trusted perspectives on the economic costs and benefits of policy options. They can also influence others within their industry, supply chain, or customer base.

1. The stone age did not end because they ran out of stone, the urgent need to end the use of fossil fuels to run the economy has not changed since this report was written. Policies to reduce GHG emissions will help our economy, not hinder it.
2. Responsible engagement around climate policy is at the heart of corporate sustainability. Companies need to set long-term goals and make public commitments on sustainability and climate change issues.
3. Governments tend to feel limited in their ability to introduce new policies for reducing GHG emissions because they fear business resistance, while companies are unable to take their investments in low carbon solutions to scale because of a lack of long-term policies.
4. Investors note that constructive and consistent climate policy engagement is seen as an indicator that a company is effectively managing the transition to a low-GHG economy, and positioning itself to outperform peers.
5. In a progress report by Caring for Climate in 2013, 62% of companies were committed to: “Engage more actively with own national governments, intergovernmental organisations and civil society, to develop policies and measures to provide an enabling framework for business to contribute effectively to building a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy.”
6. A strong, orchestrated voice for policies that combat GHG emissions is needed to be overcome influential companies and business groups that continue to delay action.
7. Climate leadership is not some sort of “moral” imperative: it entails real business benefits and the avoidance of real business risks. Active, responsible and transparent engagement in supporting policies consistent with imperatives of climate science lies at the heart of this leadership. This report provides a tool to guide such engagement.
8. Unfortunately, what we have seen over the years since this report was produced, is the overwhelming lack of results. Whether major businesses and their lobby groups engage constructively or not, there has been little change to public policy in encouraging a reduction in GHG emissions.
9. Focus on the published date of this report; 2013. The themes continue today and the roadblocks from vested interests continue to hinder progress.
10. With hindsight, we can see the policy inertia is costing the world greatly; every day we put off trying to reduce our emissions and mitigate climate change, the costs increase.