July 2026

Authors: Cami Daeninck (Regenerative Solutions Advisor, Volans), Richard Roberts (Head of Research, Volans), Elisa Leimer (Positive Policy Engagement Manager, WBCSD) and Jennie Dodson (Senior Director, Policy Advocacy & Member Mobilisation, WBCSD)

Trade associations are a key channel for corporate political influence. For companies that want to see robust, science-based climate policies implemented, ensuring their trade associations are both aligned and actively making the case for action is vital – and notoriously difficult to do.

That’s why, late last year, Volans, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the We Mean Business Coalition teamed up to help facilitate by companies to engage, jointly, with specific associations. The goal was to unlock the shared influence of companies with overlapping trade association memberships, enabling them to act together – rather than individually – when engaging their trade associations on specific policy priorities.

We ran an initial “pilot” program between October 2025 and April 2026. This blog sets out the lessons we learned from the pilot phase and how those lessons are informing the next phase of this work. This first phase was led by Volans and WBCSD; the We Mean Business Coalition is leading on the next phase of the program.

What we did

The pilot built on work our three organizations have done previously to codify best practices for positive policy engagement in general – and trade association alignment and activation in particular (e.g., the playbook for companies on mobilising trade associations as a force for good, published in May 2025 by Volans and WBCSD).

Based on extensive discussions with interested companies, we chose to focus the pilot campaign on two key policy areas:

The decision to focus on renewables and energy efficiency in Europe was based on several factors:

  • High relevance to corporate participants across sectors (access to clean power and improvements in energy efficiency are key enablers for many companies’ transition plans).
  • Significant pre-existing consensus among companies (and other partner organizations) on the validity of the goals.
  • Timeliness, since EU policymakers will be making important decisions about the future direction of energy and energy efficiency policy during 2026 and beyond.

We then mapped the trade association memberships of participating companies to identify overlaps. This mapping resulted in a target list of 12 priority associations to engage with – a mix of sector-specific associations (e.g., Cefic, the European Chemical Industry Council), as well as national cross-sector associations in key member states

We hosted a series of working sessions with companies to build alignment on policy asks and tactics; share internal challenges and successes; and provide input into materials to engage associations. The agreed initiation activity was for companies to send a letter to target associations setting out their views on the importance of progress on renewables and energy efficiency and requesting information on how the association intended to engage on these topics. Because some companies were uncomfortable with the idea of co-signing a letter, all participating companies were provided with a template letter to send individually – and encouraged to do so within a specified timeframe.

What we learned

Corporate interest in doing collective engagement with trade associations is substantial, but in attempting to convert interest into action we uncovered several common barriers.

  • Companies have a lot of competing priorities and limited bandwidth.
  • Internal silos often mean that the owners of a company’s climate policy agenda and of key trade association relationships have limited knowledge of each other’s work and/or experience of collaborating.
  • While templates and briefing materials are helpful, they need to be coupled with knowledge of the specific dynamics and processes at work within each trade association. There is no one-size-fits-all blueprint for engagement.

Given these hurdles, (some) companies need more help laying the internal groundwork (identifying and aligning key stakeholders, making the business case for prioritising engagement with associations on climate policy issues, etc.).

In terms of facilitating collective engagement, a key learning is that the path of least resistance – in terms of the choice of topic and tactics – may not be the one that gains the most traction:

  • Topic: accelerating renewables and energy efficiency are goals that many companies agree on – that’s why they were selected as the focus. But, in several cases, we heard that they were not sufficiently “material” as priorities to warrant the commitment of resources and risk required. While access to cheap, resilient, clean power and the ability to do more with less energy are essential enablers for many companies’ strategies and transition plans, they are not necessarily perceived as core business issues for companies outside the energy/energy efficiency sectors.
  • Tactics: though doing outreach collectively creates a higher barrier to entry for companies, this may be a worthwhile trade-off. The payoff is stronger peer pressure, clearer deadlines for action and a more powerful signal to trade associations.

Where next?

Having digested and discussed these learnings from the pilot phase – including at a closed-door roundtable with companies and investors hosted during London Climate Action Week in June – the direction of travel is clear. The next phase of the program will be led by the We Mean Business Coalition, who will ensure the opportunity is timely, relevant and a priority for corporates.

The pilot phase sharpened our understanding of the challenges of translating interest into implementation. But the feedback received from both companies and investors has validated our belief that there is real value in creating space for companies to coordinate engagement when they have overlapping memberships and priorities. The work now is to identify the areas of overlap with high materiality to a minimum viable cohort of companies – and where there is existing momentum to build on. Electrification, for example, has recently captured global attention and is rising up the corporate agenda.

If you’d like to get involved in the next phase, please connect with us: