InfluenceMap
“State capture is a type of systemic political corruption in which private interests significantly influence a state’s decision-making processes to their own gain”. (InfluenceMap)
InfluenceMap, founded in 2015, is a London-based non-profit think tank that works globally to offer data and analysis about the impact of business and finance on climate change. It is best-known for its pioneering platform that analyzes corporate climate policy lobbying.
“Our mission is to facilitate ambitious action by corporations and governments globally to address the climate and biodiversity crises. We do this by generating innovative analysis for use by investors, corporations, policymakers, campaigns, and a range of other influential actors, as well as being a trusted and widely covered resource for the global media. Our two work streams, LobbyMap and FinanceMap, are world-renowned platforms that respectively hold the corporate and finance sectors accountable for climate performance.”
“[InfluenceMap] introduced the concept of the corporate Carbon Policy Footprint or Scope 4 emissions. The content has become a mainstream investor tool in assessing and engaging with companies, including the Climate Action 100+ process (…) It feeds into numerous NGO campaigns and helps the corporate sector engage more positively on climate policy.”
One investor group that uses InfluenceMap isDomini Impact Investments.According toMary Beth Gallagher,“They do research on trade associations’ memberships and companies’ political positions related to climate. Domini uses this tool when it engages with a company. It is really helpful because it’s difficult information to dig into, learning about lobbying activities.”
According to one of its reports on South Africa, “To assess which corporations and industry associations are the most influential on climate issues, InfluenceMap’s method produces four key metrics: (…) The Performance Band (A+ to F) is a full measure of a company’s climate policy engagement; The Organization Score (0-100) expresses how supportive or obstructive the organization is towards climate policy aligned with the Paris Agreement; The Engagement Intensity (0-100) is a measure of the level of policy engagement by the company whether positive or negative; and The Relationship Score (0-100) expresses how supportive or obstructive the company’s industry associations are towards climate policy aligned with the Paris Agreement.”