Volvo Group
What do our scores mean?
The organizational score represents the degree to which the organization influencing climate policy and legislation. Corporations also have relationship scores reflecting their links with influencers like trade associations. Both are combined to place the corporation in a performance band. Full details can be found here.
Engagement Intensity
The engagement intensity (EI) is a metric of the extent to which the company is engaging on climate change policy matters, whether positively or negatively. It is a number from 0 (no engagement at all) to 100 (full engagement on all queries/data points). Clearly energy companies are more affected by climate regulations and will have a higher EI than, for example retailers. So an organization’s score should be looked at in conjunction with this metric to gauge the amount of evidence we are using in each case as a basis for scoring. On our scale, an EI of more than 35 indicates a relatively large amount of climate policy engagement.
Relationship Score, December 2020
A new batch of industry associations has been uploaded onto the InfluenceMap system and the relationship scores recalculated accordingly.
Updated terminology, February 2021
We adjusted the terminology used to describe the queries running down the left-hand side of our scoring matrix and added additional explanatory text to the info-boxes. This has no impact on the scores and methodology. It has been done following user feedback to improve clarity.
- Details of Organization Score
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What do the 0,1,2 and NSs, NAs mean?
Each cell in the organization's matrix presents a chance for us to assess each data source against our column of climate change policy queries. We score from -2 to 2, with negative scores representing evidence of obstructive influence. "NA" means "not applicable" and "NS" means "not scored" - that is we did not find any evidence either way. In both cases, the cell's weighting is re-distributed over others. Red and blue cells represent highly interesting negative or positive influence respectively. Full details can be found here.
- Details of Relationship Score
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What is the Relationship Score
A corporation, as well as its organizational score will have a relationship score. It is computed by aggregating the organizational scores of the Influencers (trade bodies etc.) it has relationships with, weighted by both the strength of these relationships and the relative importance of the Influencers towards climate change policy. Full details can be found here.
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QUERIES
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DATA SOURCES | |||||||
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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. . |
EU Register
Information provided by to the voluntary EU Transparency Register. |
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Communication of Climate Science
Is the organization transparent and clear about its position on climate change science? |
1
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NS | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS | NA |
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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) |
NS |
1
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NA | NS |
1
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NS | NS | NA |
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Supporting the Need for Regulations
To what extent does the organization express the need for regulatory intervention to resolve the climate crisis? |
NS | NS | NS | NS |
2
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NS | NS | NA |
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Support of UN Climate Process
Is the organization supporting the UN FCCC process on climate change? |
NS |
1
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NS | NS |
0
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NS | NS | NA |
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Transparency on Legislation
Is the organisation transparent about its positions on climate change legislation/policy and its activities to influence it? |
-1
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NA |
-2
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NA | NA | NA | NS | NS |
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Carbon Tax
Is the organisation supporting policy and legislative measures to address climate change: carbon tax. |
NS | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS | NA |
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Emissions Trading
Is the organisation supporting policy and legislative measures to address climate change: emissions trading. |
NS | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS | NA |
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Energy and Resource Efficiency
Is the organization supporting policy and legislative measures to address climate change: energy efficiency policy, standards, and targets |
0
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1
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NS |
0
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NS | NS | NS | NA |
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Renewable Energy
Is the organization supporting policy and legislative measures to address climate change: Renewable energy legislation, targets, subsidies, and other policy |
NS | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS | NA |
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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? |
NS |
1
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NS |
0
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0
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1
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NS | NA |
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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 |
NS |
1
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NS |
0
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0
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NS | NS | NA |
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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? |
-1
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NS |
-2
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NA | NA | NA | NS | NS |
Open PDF file of Data Source
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
InfluenceMap Comment:
President of major subsidiary Mack Trucks is on the board of NAM
Martin Weissburg
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
InfluenceMap Comment:
Is a member of NAM. Executive Vice President Volvo Group is Volvo Group representative for National Association of Manu facturers (NAM)
Dennis Slagle
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
InfluenceMap Comment:
President of major subsidiary Mack Trucks is on the board of NAM
Martin Weissburg
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
InfluenceMap Comment:
Is a member of NAM. Executive Vice President Volvo Group is Volvo Group representative for National Association of Manu facturers (NAM)
Dennis Slagle
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
InfluenceMap Comment:
Subsidiary of Volvo Group is a member of SIAM
Mr Suresh Chettiar
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
InfluenceMap Comment:
Is a member of SIAM
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
InfluenceMap Comment:
Subsidiary of Volvo Group is a member of SIAM
Mr Suresh Chettiar
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
InfluenceMap Comment:
Is a member of SIAM
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
InfluenceMap Comment:
Director of subsidiary Volvo Compact Equipment is on the board of a sub-federation of UIMM
Dominique Gertner
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
InfluenceMap Comment:
Director of subsidiary Volvo Compact Equipment is on the board of a sub-federation of UIMM
Dominique Gertner
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
InfluenceMap Comment:
A subsidiary of Volvo is an indirect member of BDI via VDA
not specified
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
InfluenceMap Comment:
A subsidiary of Volvo is an indirect member of BDI via VDA
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
InfluenceMap Comment:
A subsidiary of Volvo is an indirect member of BDI via VDA
not specified
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
InfluenceMap Comment:
A subsidiary of Volvo is an indirect member of BDI via VDA
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.
Climate Lobbying Overview: Volvo Group is engaging with a variety of strands of climate policy with mixed positions. The company has stated support for a high-level policy areas such as the European Green Deal, but appears to take more mixed positions on detailed regulation, particularly around EU CO2 standards for heavy-duty vehicles and policies to encourage the uptake of zero emissions trucks such as California’s Advanced Clean Trucks Regulation. The company retains memberships to a number of trade associations known to be obstructive on climate policy.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Volvo Group appears to support emissions reductions in line with the recommendations of the IPCC, stating in an April 2020 press release that it “shared the Green Deal vision of sustainable transport and a carbon-neutral Europe by 2050.” In an April 2020 Bloomberg article, the company stated its support for a ‘green recovery’ from COVID-19 for the EU in line with the Green Deal ambition of a net zero EU by 2050. The company has also supported the Paris Agreement, signing the ‘We Are Still in Pledge’ in 2017.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Volvo Group appears to be engaged on GHG standards for vehicles with mixed positions. In 2018, Volvo Group appears to have advocated to the Swedish Government that the EU Commission proposed CO2 targets for heavy-duty vehicles are “far too ambitious”, instead suggesting weaker targets with smaller penalties. In a 2018 consultation response to the EU Commission on emissions standards for heavy vehicles, the company appears to support stringency relaxation for certain vehicle groups, supporting various labelling schemes and incentives over standards. Despite this, Volvo’s 2019 Sustainability Report (released in 2020) states that EU efforts to regulate CO2 emissions from heavy-duty vehicles proceeded with “broad support from the Volvo Group.” In the United States however, Volvo Group appears to have supported Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for heavy-duty vehicles according to notes from an April 2016 meeting between the company and the Department of Transport and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and has strongly supported the closing of loopholes in US fuel economy standards for heavy-duty vehicles.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Volvo Group has stated support for the decarbonization of road transport in a December 2020 press release and, in a joint statement in December 2020 with ACEA and a number of other European truck makers, has called for commercial vehicles to be ‘fossil free’ by 2040. The company also, in a February 2019 press release, called for increased subsidies and tax breaks for 'climate-efficient' technologies in the heavy-duty vehicle segment. The group seems to also voiced support for Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) incentives with some exceptions in Sweden in August 2018 and has supported vehicle replacement schemes and incentives to encourage greater uptake of vehicles that produce fewer emissions in the EU. However, Volvo Group appears to have opposed California’s Advanced Clean Trucks Regulation, arguing in a consultation response that sales mandates were inappropriate and supporting greater flexibility in the regulation in December 2019 and May 2020.
Industry Association Governance: Volvo Group summarizes its memberships of industry associations into broad categories in its 2019 GRI Report and states that a specific list of memberships 2019-2020 is available on request. The company is a member of a number of obstructive trade associations; the chairman of Volvo Group, Carl-Henric Svanberg is the chair of European Round Table for Industry (ERT) and the company’s CEO, Martin Lundstedt is on the board of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), while the president of major subsidiary Mack Trucks is on the board of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). Volvo Group is also a member of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA), Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) and German Automotive Association (VDA).