Chevron

InfluenceMap Score
E+
Performance Band
34%
Organisation Score
38%
Relationship Score
Modifications to InfluenceMap Scoring
Sector:
Energy
Head​quarters:
San Ramon, United States
Brands and Associated Companies
Texaco, Caltex
Official Web Site:
https://www.chevron.com/
Wikipedia:
Chevron Corporation

Climate Lobbying Overview: Chevron appears to be opposing many forms of climate-motivated regulation, particularly renewable fuel standards, whilst actively pushing a US energy policy agenda that accelerates oil and gas production. Chevron also retains memberships to several industry associations engaged in obstructive climate lobbying.

Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: In Chevron’s Climate Change Resilience Report from March 2021, the company states it supports the Paris Agreement and global net zero "in the second half of this century", without the exact timeframe left undefined. Chevron’s 2019 climate policy position states support only for a “market-based” route to “lower-carbon outcomes”, whilst opposing a regulatory approach that establishes GHG emission targets on the use of its products. In line with this view, as of March 2021 Chevron supports the use of carbon pricing to respond to climate change, without appearing to back a specific pricing mechanism or policy. Between 2015-2018, successive Chevron CEOs questioned the desirability and feasibility of action on climate in line with the recommendations of the IPCC, for example by suggesting that the challenge of meeting growing energy demand in developing countries should be prioritized over urgent climate policy action.

Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Chevron appears to have actively lobbied against US climate policy including renewable fuel standards and methane regulations, although its position on market-based measures such as carbon taxes appears to have softened. In June 2019, Chevron signed a joint statement calling for governments to set “economically meaningful” carbon pricing policies, including carbon taxes and emissions trading, although with a caveat that said policies support economic growth. This marks a shift from previous opposition to carbon tax policies, including the donation of $500K to a successful campaign to defeat a carbon tax policy proposal in Washington State in 2018.

In 2019, supported the weakening of the US Renewable Fuel Standard Program in two submissions to the Environmental Protection Agency in August and November. Chevron has consistently opposed low-carbon and renewable fuel standards since 2014. In its 2017 CDP response, Chevron also disclosed that it supports the repeal or significant revision of US methane regulations and has directly lobbied the US EPA on the rollback of a number of methane emission measurement requirements in 2018 including, seemingly, through direct meetings with Trump Administration officials. However, in Chevron's 'Climate Change Resilience Report' from March 2021, Chevron appeared to express a revised position, stating support for "well-designed" regulation that sets "appropriate methane metrics".

Positioning on Energy Transition: Chevron appears to consistently support the inclusion of oil and gas in a future energy mix. In its 2020 climate lobbying report, Vice President of Corporate Affairs Dave Walsh stated that Chevron recognizes the need for a low-carbon future, but oil and gas have a vital role in any global transition. CEO Michael Wirth echoes this, stating in 2020 that oil and gas will continue to be in the future energy-mix, while in a separate speech stating that natural gas ‘underpins our energy future’. Chevron has lobbied extensively on US energy policy. In 2017, CEO Michael Wirth called renewable and low carbon fuel policies in the US and Canada ‘failures’ and in 2015-2019, Chevron has repeatedly lobbied for the repeal of Renewable Fuel Standards at the federal level. Between 2016 and 2018, Chevron directly lobbied US policymakers to open US federal land to oil and gas exploration, demanding that all offshore areas from the lower 48 states and Alaska should be considered for their “hydrocarbon potential”.

Industry Association Governance: Chevron publicly discloses a list of memberships it holds to industry associations in a dedicated climate lobbying report, as well as the climate policy positions held by each industry association. However, the report does not disclose an assessment of alignment with its industry associations, nor how it tries to influence their climate policy. Nevertheless, Chevron is represented on the boards of various trade associations that are opposing climate policy. For example, CEO Michael Wirth is on the board of directors of the American Petroleum Institute which, like Chevron, has lobbied for the rollback on US methane regulation throughout 2017-2018. The company further appears to retain membership to ALEC, a US group renowned for disseminating climate misinformation and for using legal tactics to block a range of US state-level and federal climate policies. Chevron’s lobbying report also does not disclose the company’s membership to several key industry associations actively and negatively engaging on climate change including APPEA and Business Council of Australia.

A detailed assessment of the company's industry association disclosure can be found on our CA100+ webpage here.
QUERIES
DATA SOURCES
Main Web Site

The main organizational Web site of the company and its direct links to major affiliates and attached documents.

 Social Media

We search other media and sites funded or controlled by the organization, such as social media (Twitter, Facebook) and direct advertising campaigns of the organization.

 CDP Responses

We assess and score responses to two questions from CDP's climate change information request (12.3 a & 12.3c) related to political influence questions (currently these are not numerically scored by the CDP process).

 Legislative Consultations

Comments from the entity being scored on governmental regulatory consultation processes, including those obtained by InfluenceMap through Freedom of Information requests.

 Media Reports

Here we search in a consistent manner (the organization name and relevant query search terms) a set of web sites of representing reputable news or data aggregations. Supported by targeted searches of proprietary databases.

 CEO Messaging

Here we search in a consistent manner (the CEO/Chairman, organization name and relevant query search terms) a set of web sites of representing reputable news or data aggregations. Supported by targeted searches of proprietary databases.

 Financial Disclosures

We search 10-K and 20-F SEC filings where available, and non US equivalents where not. .
Communication of Climate Science

Is the organization transparent and clear about its position on climate change science?

 2 NS NS NS 1 0 1
Alignment with IPCC on Climate Action

Is the organization supporting the science-based response to climate change as set out by the IPCC? (the IPCC)

 0 -1 NA NS 1 0 -1
Supporting the Need for Regulations

To what extent does the organization express the need for regulatory intervention to resolve the climate crisis?

 0 1 NA NS 0 0 0
Support of UN Climate Process

Is the organization supporting the UN FCCC process on climate change?

 1 1 NS NS 1 -1 -1
Transparency on Legislation

Is the organisation transparent about its positions on climate change legislation/policy and its activities to influence it?

 0 NA -2 NA NA NA NA
Carbon Tax

Is the organisation supporting policy and legislative measures to address climate change: carbon tax.

 0 NS NS NS -1 -1 NS
Emissions Trading

Is the organisation supporting policy and legislative measures to address climate change: emissions trading.

 0 -2 -2 NS 0 0 -1
Energy and Resource Efficiency

Is the organization supporting policy and legislative measures to address climate change: energy efficiency policy, standards, and targets

 0 NS -2 NS -1 NS NS
Renewable Energy

Is the organization supporting policy and legislative measures to address climate change: Renewable energy legislation, targets, subsidies, and other policy

 0 NS -2 -2 -2 -1 NS
Energy Transition & Zero Carbon Technologies

Is the organization supporting an IPCC-aligned transition of the economy away from carbon-emitting technologies, including supporting relevant policy and legislative measures to enable this transition?

 -1 -1 NS -1 -1 -1 -1
GHG Emission Regulation

Is the organization supporting policy and legislative measures to address climate change: GHG emission standards and targets. Is the organization supporting policy and legislative measures to address climate change: Standards, targets, and other regulatory measures directly targeting Greenhouse Gas emissions

 0 0 -2 -2 -2 -2 NS
Disclosure on Relationships

Is the organization transparent about its involvement with industry associations that are influencing climate policy, including the extent to which it is aligned with these groups on climate?

 0 NS -2 NA NA NA NA
Strength of Relationship
STRONG
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
WEAK
 
American Petroleum Institute (API)
23%
 
American Petroleum Institute (API)
23%
 
International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)
60%
 
International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)
60%
 
International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP)
51%
 
International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP)
51%
 
American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM)
25%
 
American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM)
25%
 
Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA)
40%
 
Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA)
40%
 
Natural Gas Supply Association
41%
 
Natural Gas Supply Association
41%
 
Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA)
29%
 
Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA)
29%
 
Business Roundtable
51%
 
Business Roundtable
51%
 
US Chamber of Commerce
26%
 
US Chamber of Commerce
26%
 
Australian Industry Greenhouse Network
47%
 
Australian Industry Greenhouse Network
47%
 
Australian Institute of Petroleum
34%
 
Australian Institute of Petroleum
34%
 
American Chemistry Council (ACC)
49%
 
American Chemistry Council (ACC)
49%
 
Asociación Mexicana de Empresas de Hidrocarburos (AMEXHI)
34%
 
Asociación Mexicana de Empresas de Hidrocarburos (AMEXHI)
34%
 
Oil and Gas UK
53%
 
Oil and Gas UK
53%
 
KazEnergy
34%
 
KazEnergy
34%

How to Read our Relationship Score Map

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.

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