Consistent, positive business engagement with policymakers on climate issues will be a crucial factor in implementing the Paris climate change agreement. Responsible Corporate Engagement in Climate Policy sets out a program of action for companies wishing to demonstrate best practice in policy engagement.

What are the benefits?

Companies have the opportunity to be at the forefront of an important new movement within the sphere of corporate responsibility. Early action and leadership will be beneficial to companies’ bottom lines and will promote their work to institutional investors who are becoming increasingly interested in these issues.

Corporate leadership in this area places companies in a strong position for benchmarking and for future CDP performance scoring of this activity area. Benchmarks on this topic are expected to emerge, and CDP is actively considering how to integrate corporate influence activities into its scoring methodology.

What is expected of companies that make this commitment?

By making this commitment, companies are agreeing to implement the actions in Section 3 of the Guide to "Identify–Align–Report":

1. Set up processes to internally audit all activities that a company takes part in that influences climate policy;
2. Work to ensure that all of this activity is consistent; and
3. Communicate on policy positions, actions and outcomes.