This bulletin overviews corporate lobbying detected by InfluenceMap related to fossil fuels for Q3 2024.
Australia: InfluenceMap identified high levels of advocacy from the oil and gas sector promoting fossil fuels in Australian energy transition policies. Oil and gas industry engagement with the Capacity Market Investment Scheme (CIS) and the Electricity and Energy Sector Plan shows a lack of support for the policies, including advocacy for the inclusion of fossil gas in the CIS and the expansion of fossil gas in the energy mix.
Europe: InfluenceMap accessed new data that reveals how Eni continues to lobby European policymakers to promote LNG in Mozambique. Minutes from an October 2023 meeting between the company and representatives of the European Commission’s Energy directorate detail the company’s efforts to push for gas in Africa to export to Europe, despite European climate objectives to reduce gas.
United States: In response to the EPA’s finalization of carbon standards for power plants in April 2024, the fossil fuel industry and utilities initiated legal challenges, with key decisions still pending.
Over the first half of 2024, InfluenceMap detected high levels of advocacy promoting fossil fuels in Australian energy transition policies. This negative advocacy risks undermining the objectives of the policies, particularly by including fossil gas in renewable investment schemes and framing fossil gas as a necessary long-term energy source.
In 2023 and 2024, the Australian Government proposed two key policies—the Capacity Market Investment Scheme (CIS) and the Electricity and Energy Sector Plan (the Plan)—and solicited public feedback through consultation papers as part of its broader push to accelerate the energy transition.
The CIS was initially announced in December 2022, supplemented by a consultation paper on the proposed approach and design in August 2023 and a design paper released for comment in February 2024. It provides revenue underwriting to renewable energy and energy storage projects and explicitly excludes fossil fuel-based energy. The scheme aims to ensure Australia’s electricity grid remains reliable and secure as the country phases out coal-fired power and increases its reliance on renewable energy.
The Australian government released a discussion paper for the Electricity and Energy Sector Plan in March 2024, and the consultation closed in April 2024. The Electricity and Energy Sector Plan is one of 6 sectoral decarbonization plans that the Australian government is developing to guide the country’s transition to a net-zero economy by 2050. The plan aims to set out a pathway to reduce the emissions of Australia’s electricity and energy sectors and identifies 5 key considerations for shaping the country’s energy future: mobilizing investment, enabling electrification, growing alternative low carbon fuels, building Australia’s clean energy workforce, and maximizing outcomes for people and businesses.
InfluenceMap’s analysis of engagement on both policies found that Australian energy companies and industry associations appear to largely oppose the policies. Engaged entities advocated for the inclusion of fossil fuels, particularly fossil gas, with many advocating for expansion of—and new investment in—fossil gas projects in Australia.
Of the companies and industry associations included in InfluenceMap’s LobbyMap database, which covers the largest and most influential corporate entities in Australia, 34 engaged on the Capacity Market Investment Scheme and 41 engaged on the Electricity and Energy Sector Plan across various sources, including consultation responses.
In apparent opposition to the policy, many organizations advocated for provisions that are misaligned with IPCC guidance on the global use of fossil fuels in 1.5 °C pathways.
Multiple organizations advocated for fossil fuels to be included in the Capacity Investment Scheme, which would give fossil fuel companies access to financing intended for renewables. These entities included EnergyAustralia, Origin Energy, APA Group, Australian Pipelines and Gas Association, Energy Users Association of Australia, Australian Energy Producers, and Senex. Many of these organizations also advocated for new investment in fossil gas supplies in their advocacy on the Electricity and Energy Sector Plan, including APA Group, Australian Pipelines and Gas Association, Energy Users Association of Australia, Australian Energy Producers, and Senex. Chevron and Engie also supported new fossil gas investments and infrastructure in their responses to the Electricity and Energy Sector Plan consultation.
Several companies and industry associations appeared to support elements of the policies while simultaneously advocating for provisions that risk undermining the policies’ objectives. Organizations such as Shell, AGL, and the Australian Energy Council advocated for a “technology neutral” approach to the CIS. ExxonMobil used a similar argument in its response to the Electricity and Energy Sector Plan, as did Chevron and Australian Energy Producers in other oppositional responses.
Several companies and renewable energy associations supported the CIS—Iberdrola and the Smart Energy Council strongly supported the policy’s intent to expand renewables and reduce fossil fuels in the energy mix. Many other entities such as Acciona, Engie, Enel, the Clean Energy Council and Fortescue Metals Group showed general support for the proposed scheme in their consultation submissions. Several renewable energy industry groups, as well as a range of companies across the energy and metals and mining sectors, led support for the Electricity and Energy Sector Plan. The Energy Efficiency Council, the Clean Energy Council, and the Carbon Market Institute all advocated for the Plan to implement long-term policy signals to drive continued renewable energy uptake while supporting Australia’s transition away from fossil fuels. Fortescue Metals Group and AGL expressed similar positions.
This negative advocacy risks undermining the objectives of the policies by potentially including fossil gas in renewable investment schemes and promoting fossil gas as a long-term energy source. The IPCC’s guidance for achieving 1.5 °C states that the role of fossil gas in the global energy system must diminish between 20-60% by 2050, with the use of gas peaking in 2035. The report also states that existing fossil fuel infrastructure would exceed GHG emissions in the remaining carbon budget for a 1.5 °C pathway. Thus, a combination of early retirements, reductions in utilization, and the cancellation of new fossil fuel infrastructure are needed to meet the 1.5 °C target. To that end, the IPCC's AR6 report indicates that continued investments in fossil gas infrastructure would see energy systems lock in higher-emission technologies.
For more details on the corporate engagement with the Capacity Investment Scheme and the Energy and Electricity Sector Plan, see InfluenceMap’s policy tacker on the Australia Platform here.
In August 2023, InfluenceMap released a report detailing the European oil and gas industry's multi-pronged strategy to lock in fossil gas across Europe and Africa. Using LNG advocacy in Europe and Africa as a case study, the report demonstrated how the industry's attempts to influence policy could lock in fossil fuels across the entire value chain, from upstream production to downstream demand for its products.
InfluenceMap's report found that the industry pushed fossil gas as a development fuel in Africa and resisted gas phase-outs in climate policy, despite clear European policy ambition to move away from gas. It also highlighted the industry's advocacy on the EU Methane Regulation as an example of its strategy to lock-in fossil gas.
Newly uncovered minutes from an October 2023 meeting between Eni (named in the August 2023 report) and representatives of the European Commission’s Energy Directorate, accessed via Freedom of Information request, reveal that the company continues to push European policymakers to expand LNG in Mozambique. The minutes stated the following:
Thanks to the ENI project Mozambique has rejoined the group of LNG exporting countries. LNG production is already contracted out and part of it will serve the European Market. ENI emphasizes the importance of LNG from East Africa as a contribution to Europe's energy security thanks to reliance routes of shipping and the high quality of gas extracted. (Redacted) stresses that fiscal revenues from the project contributes to budget stabilization in Mozambique and to funding their decarbonization activities, including electrification.
The IPCC’s April 2022 report highlights the negative economic implications that developing countries with significant dependence on fossil fuel revenue streams will face as the energy transition creates lower demand for oil and gas (AR6 WGIII, 17.3.2.3, p.1745). This heightens the potential for stranded fossil fuel assets in Africa. Europe, a major market for exported gas, is already under-utilizing its LNG terminal import capacity due to falling demand, and demand for fossil gas imports is expected to fall further to meet the EU’s climate objectives.
The industry’s advocacy has played a significant role in Africa’s latest fossil gas investments, which totaled over $80bn in new LNG infrastructure in Mauritania, Mozambique, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Senegal, and Tanzania (as of August 2023). This risks locking in polluting fossil fuels in Africa as the world plans to transition away, threatening Africa’s energy transition and sustainable development opportunities.
This report maps how European energy corporations are influencing climate and energy investment policy globally. Using LNG advocacy in Europe and Africa as a case study, it demonstrates how industry's attempts to influence policy risks locking in fossil fuels across the entire value chain, from upst...
Highlighted below is a general policy update from the United States:
