InfluenceMap’s LobbyMap platform tracks and scores the detailed climate change policy engagement activities of over 350 of the world’s largest companies, along with over 150 key industry associations. This briefing summarizes and updates InfluenceMap’s analysis of the US Chamber of Commerce (US Chamber) and its US corporate membership. InfluenceMap’s online summary for the US Chamber can be found here.
The briefing shows that there has been no material improvement in the US Chamber’s climate change lobbying over the past 5 years, despite an evolution in the group’s high-level PR messaging around climate. The organization remains a significant blockage to US climate policy, most notably leading the charge against the Build Back Better Act and its climate provisions in 2021-2022.
This finding is set against a growing trend among the US Chamber’s membership, who have been communicating to their stakeholders on efforts to reform the US Chamber’s approach to climate policy from the inside. InfluenceMap analysis suggests that shifts in the US Chamber’s high-level messaging since 2017 have been little more than PR tactics to create the impression of reform, placating climate conscious companies and their investors, while the organization’s detailed lobbying has remained focus on blocking climate policy and promoting fossil fuels.