American Gas Association
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.
Update August 2021: If limited evidence had been collected either on a company's direct policy engagement (Organization Score) or industry association links (Relationship Score) this is signified with an ‘n/a’ (not available). If limited evidence has been collected in both areas, the Total Score is also given as n/a. Full details and links back to any primary evidence that has been collected can still be located on the company’s profile.
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 25 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
-
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.
|
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? |
0
|
1
|
NA | NS | NS | NS | NA |
|
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 | NS | NA | NS | NS |
-1
|
NA |
|
Supporting the Need for Regulations
To what extent does the organization express the need for regulatory intervention to resolve the climate crisis? |
-1
|
NS | NA | NS |
-1
|
-1
|
NA |
|
Support of UN Climate Process
Is the organization supporting the UN FCCC process on climate change? |
NS | NS | NA | NS | NS | NS | NA |
|
Transparency on Legislation
Is the organisation transparent about its positions on climate change legislation/policy and its activities to influence it? |
1
|
NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
|
Carbon Tax
Is the organisation supporting policy and legislative measures to address climate change: carbon tax. |
NS |
-2
|
NA | NS |
-2
|
-1
|
NA |
|
Emissions Trading
Is the organisation supporting policy and legislative measures to address climate change: emissions trading. |
NS | NS | NA | NS |
-1
|
NS | NA |
|
Energy and Resource Efficiency
Is the organization supporting policy and legislative measures to address climate change: energy efficiency policy, standards, and targets |
-1
|
NS | NA |
-1
|
-2
|
NS | NA |
|
Renewable Energy
Is the organization supporting policy and legislative measures to address climate change: Renewable energy legislation, targets, subsidies, and other policy |
NS | NS | NA | NS | NS | NS | NA |
|
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
|
NA |
-1
|
-2
|
-1
|
NA |
|
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
|
NA |
-1
|
NS |
0
|
NA |
|
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? |
2
|
NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
American Gas Association (AGA) is engaging with climate change policy with mostly negative positions. AGA shows general support for climate regulation in line with the Paris Agreement, with the clear qualification that fossil gas is included in and supported by any policy effort. The association also appears to prefer voluntary, market-led efforts to reduce emissions: in 2020, for example, a post on its organizational blog “True Blue Natural Gas” argued that technological innovation and energy efficiency will drive emissions reductions in line with the Paris Climate Agreement, making efforts such as a carbon tax and policy-driven electrification unnecessary. A 2019 report sponsored by AGA lays out the case against policy-driven electrification. While issuing top-line support for energy efficiency standards, 2020 regulatory comments hinge this support on the inclusion of industry consultations, ensuring that any resulting policy does not divert consumer choice from fossil gas. In 2020, AGA commended the Affordable Clean Energy rule as a replacement to the Clean Power Plan given the flexibility afforded to individual states through the lack of mandates.
The CEO of American Gas Association, Karen Harbert, formerly served as head of the US Chamber of Commerce’s Global Energy Institute. After joining AGA in 2019, she was outspoken against the US Green New Deal, arguing that the proposal does a “disservice” to the climate conversation given its extremely "unrealistic" goals for renewable energy. AGA did not take a stance on the proposed rollback of methane standards in its 2019 regulatory comments, although in the same year Harbert pointed to strict methane regulations as one example of “draconian” policy measures to regulate the oil and gas industry. Similarly, AGA has not taken a stance on a federal carbon tax or cap-and-trade, though Harbert spoke out in 2020 against “one size fits all” climate policies such as carbon pricing.
American Gas Association supports a permanent role for fossil gas in the energy mix, with Harbert claiming in 2020 that fossil gas remains “foundational in our energy landscape”. In 2020, AGA defended the Natural Gas Act as a roadmap for increasing fossil gas infrastructure, and strongly opposed state action to bar cities from banning fossil gas pipelines. In 2019, it lobbied for reforms to the National Environmental Policy Act that would remove cumulative greenhouse gas emissions from consideration in impact assessments, among other changes. In a 2020 report titled “Benefits to the Economy through the Direct Use of Natural Gas,” AGA touted the economic growth, jobs, and individual savings resulting from an increased use of fossil gas in the energy mix. In March 2021, CEO Karen Harbert seemed to oppose proposals to ban fossil gas hookups for new residential buildings, calling the idea "dead wrong".
American Gas Association hosts all climate-related regulatory comments and testimonials on its website. It also publishes a full list of organizational members and executive leadership positions.