Woolworths 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 | NA | 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) |
2
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NS | NA | NS | NS | 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 | NA | NS | NS | NS | NS | NA |
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Support of UN Climate Process
Is the organization supporting the UN FCCC process on climate change? |
1
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NS | NA | NS | NS | NS |
0
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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? |
-2
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NA |
-2
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NA | NA | NA | NS | NA |
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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 |
1
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NA |
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Emissions Trading
Is the organisation supporting policy and legislative measures to address climate change: emissions trading. |
1
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NS |
1
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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 |
NS | NS |
1
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NS | 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? |
0
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NS | NS | NS | NS | NS | 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 | NS | NS | NS |
0
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NS |
0
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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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NA |
-2
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NA | NA | NA | NS | NA |
Open PDF file of Data Source
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
InfluenceMap Comment:
Woolworths Group is a member of Ai Group. It holds an unspecified position on one or more of Ai Group's working groups, although no detail is provided.
not specified
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
InfluenceMap Comment:
Woolworths Group is a member of Ai Group. It holds an unspecified position on one or more of Ai Group's working groups, although no detail is provided.
not specified
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
InfluenceMap Comment:
Woolworths Group is one of over 100 direct members of BCA. It holds an unspecified position on one or more of BCA's committees and working groups. In [563294 response to a shareholder question] at the 2018 AGM, Woolworths Group Chairman Gordon Cairns told a shareholder that the company does not agree with all of BCA's positions on climate change, but prefers to engage with them privately.
not specified
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
InfluenceMap Comment:
Woolworths Group is one of over 100 direct members of BCA.
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
InfluenceMap Comment:
Woolworths Group is one of over 100 direct members of BCA. It holds an unspecified position on one or more of BCA's committees and working groups. In [563294 response to a shareholder question] at the 2018 AGM, Woolworths Group Chairman Gordon Cairns told a shareholder that the company does not agree with all of BCA's positions on climate change, but prefers to engage with them privately.
not specified
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
InfluenceMap Comment:
Woolworths Group is one of over 100 direct members of BCA.
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: Woolworths Group has shown top-line support for climate action and a number of key climate policies in Australia. However, the company has had limited detailed engagement with specific climate-related policy or the debate around the energy transition.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: In its 2019 Sustainability Report, Woolworths Group clearly endorsed the IPCC science on climate change and supported emissions reductions in line with 1.5°C. The company has consistently supported Australia's participation in the Paris Agreement, although did not rule out the use of Kyoto carryover credits in response to a shareholder question at Woolworth Group's 2019 AGM.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Woolworths Group has expressed basic top-line support for a number of Australian climate and energy policies including the federal carbon tax, the Emissions Reduction Fund, and state-level energy efficiency legislation such as the NSW Energy Savings Scheme and the Victorian Energy Efficiency Target. In August 2018, Woolworths Group called for policy makers to implement the National Energy Guarantee as soon as possible.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Woolworths Group is clearly concerned with transitioning its energy usage in its own operations, but the company does not appear to have a clear position on the broader energy transition.
Industry Association Governance: Woolworths Group has links to several industry associations that have actively opposed meaningful climate change policy, including the Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Business Council of Australia and Energy Users Association of Australia. However, Woolworths Group does not disclose a full list of its industry association memberships and indirect climate-related lobbying activities, nor has it published a full audit disclosure of its industry links.