Trade association reports
Our aim 8 is to set new expectations for our relationships with trade associations around the globe. We will make the case for our views on climate change within the associations we belong to and we will be transparent where we differ. And where we can’t reach alignment, we will be prepared to leave
We belong to industry associations that offer opportunities to share good practices and collaborate on issues of importance to our sector; from contributing to the development of equipment, operating and safety standards through to working with regulators, knowledge sharing and professional development.
Reporting on our participation in trade associations
We published our first detailed trade associations review in 2020. As a result of this review, we left three associations that we deemed to be not aligned with our views on climate, and our CEO wrote to the others in scope to explain our support of the Paris Agreement, our net zero ambition and our support for transparency. In 2021, we published an update on the progress made by five trade associations that we found to be only partially aligned in our 2020 report.
In April 2022, we published our second detailed trade associations review.
We made changes to our approach in several key areas for this review, including:
- increasing the number of associations included from 30 to 51, based on updated materiality criteria
- changing our policy positions criteria for ‘reducing emissions’ and ‘carbon credits’ – which is an evolution of the position related to ‘natural climate solutions and carbon offsets’ in our previous review
- increasing the level of external support for our assessment.
Consistent with our aim to enhance the transparency of our reporting, this review includes a list of our most significant memberships, defined as those where our annual fees paid were $50,000 or more. We first published this list in 2021, and it has been updated for 2022.
Trade associations reviews and progress updates
Trade associations: differing views
We understand that positions taken on any topic by a trade association are often a compromise or majority view, arrived at through their individual decision-making processes, with the potential for widely differing views among their membership. Consequently, we may share our perspective on emerging policy themes with a specific trade association, but as one member among many, we do not expect to dictate what they write or say.
We monitor our memberships of associations, and the positions they take. Where our views cannot be reconciled, we may share details here.
