Mixed Corporate Messages in Climate Legislation: Parallels and Divergences in Energy Company Public Statements and Political Activities

Climate Legislation;Corporate Lobbying;Campaign Contributions;Natural Resources and Environment

Makhijani, ShakuntalaLyon, Thomas ;

University of Michigan

关键词: Climate Legislation;    Corporate Lobbying;    Campaign Contributions;    Natural Resources and Environment;   

Others  :  https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/85797/Makhijani%20thesis%20-%20final.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

Corporate influence has been widely blamed as a driving factor behind difficulties passing U.S.climate legislation and compromises in the more seriously-considered bills. This thesis willexamine corporate public statements, lobbying activities, and campaign contributions as variousforms of political influence, and seek to identify parallels and inconsistencies between thesepolicy drivers. In particular, the analysis will aim to draw conclusions about how corporatelobbying activities compare to public relations statements on climate change. As detailedlobbying disclosure information is not publicly available, an analysis of campaign contributionpatterns serves as the basis for inferring industry lobbying positions on climate legislation fromthe 109th through 111th Congresses.While a few energy companies made public statements in favor of binding climate legislation,most committed themselves only to vague statements of environmental stewardship withoutadvocating for specific policy solutions. Statements of overt opposition to climate legislation byindustry officials in the press and testimony further reveal internal contradictions within thesecorporations. The examination of lobbying behavior, using campaign contributions as a proxy forlobbying goals, demonstrates corporate reluctance to back stated concern for climate changewith support for legislation, especially bills with more significant targets. Oil companies inparticular exhibited the greatest bias, most notably surrounding the only Congressional vote ona stand-alone climate bill. This could be due to the likelihood that, unlike the other industriesexamined, oil industry GHG emissions are likely to increase rather than decrease with fuelsource diversification.These findings could be greatly supplemented and illuminated through more thorough lobbyingdisclosure requirements. While there are significant parallels in campaign contribution andlobbying patterns, as examined in the literature scoping, the proxy use has limitations.Disclosure of lobbying positions and contacted representatives would eliminate the need for thisintermediate step, and encourage more transparent corporate positioning regarding climatechange and other legislative issues.