Unilever Climate Policy Engagement Review

We are seeing the role of corporate political influence in addressing the climate crisis increasingly coming under the microscope. Right in the line of scrutiny are businesses’ relationships with their trade associations. It’s time for change.

It has been really gratifying to work with Unilever on its ambitious Climate Policy Engagement Review. Unilever’s Review has taken a wide-ranging and transparent deep dive into its relationship with its trade associations – and in doing so, has significantly raised the bar in terms of the quality of corporate climate lobbying disclosure. For Unilever’s Review, our team worked to conceive a robust process and framework of relevant criteria by which Unilever was able to evaluate its trade associations’ alignment with its own ambitious climate goals.

The results gave an enlightening view of the landscape: you can read the full Review here.

The report details:
·    The 18 industry associations that were aligned with Unilever’s climate policy positions, though not all with the same level of engagement.
·    The 8 industry associations that were misaligned with Unilever in one or more of their priority policy areas.
·    The 2 that were misaligned across multiple policy priority areas.

We were very careful to structure the review in a way that means the results are actionable. For 26 out of the 27 associations assessed, there is room for improvement – either in terms of alignment and/or in terms of the intensity of their engagement (congratulations to Corporate Leaders Group for being the one exception). The real test of impact will be how many of those 26 associations have demonstrably improved their climate policy engagement by the time Unilever publishes its next review.

It’s time to act – we will be watching.