Sasol Climate Change Report 2022 - Book - Page 53
INTRODUCTION
RISKS AND OPPORTUNITIES
GOVERNANCE
OUR FUTURE SASOL STRATEGY
DATA AND ASSURANCE
CLIMATE ADVOCACY AND POLICY (CONTINUED)
Methodology for annual review of our trade associations
Assessing alignment with industry associations
In 2022, Sasol assessed additional key associations and reviewed
previously disclosed associations against our responsible climaterelated advocacy principles (see page 50 for our five principles). Only
relevant associations that undertake climate change advocacy were
assessed by reviewing publicly available documents and engaging
with their offices, where possible. Importantly, the majority of these
industry associations cite climate change as one of their focus areas
and for the Industry Task Team on Climate Change (ITTCC) and the
Energy Council of South Africa it is a key driver.
METHODOLOGY
ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
For the past years,
Sasol has worked to
align the advocacy
positions of trade
associations with our
climate-related
advocacy principles.
• In the event that the assessment revealed
inconsistencies in terms of at least one/two of our
principles, ‘partially aligned’ was indicated. In this
instance, further engagements are held to better
understand positions and seek alignment.
We applied our key
principles for
responsible advocacy
consistently against the
industry association
positions. This year our
methodology was
enhanced for greater
clarity, alignment to
best practice, inclusion
of third-party
assessments and to
address expectations
on enhanced
transparency.
• Where more than two principles were not aligned
and if the association was not in support of the Paris
Agreement, then ‘not aligned’ was indicated.
• Associations are considered ’aligned‘ with our
principles when their support for the Paris Agreement
is clearly articulated and the internal assessment
shows congruence to all principles.
• Our review was then augmented with available
third-party external assessments. This year we used
Influence Map. We decided that if we agreed with the
external view, we would revise our assessment and
where we did not, it would remain unchanged. In most
instances our assessment did not change as we were
able to obtain additional information that might not
have been available for the external third-party.
• The practice of assessing company activities related
to influencing climate change policies is still in its
infancy. Typically, external assessments are based on
publicly available data and do not require or consider
additional disclosures or cooperation from the covered
entities. A blind spot in these external assessments
is the lack of insight or knowledge of the confidential
work being developed by both industry and their
related associations. In this regard, through the
information at our disposal and our work with them in
developing climate policy, we were able to accept and
discount differences in our assessments of industry
associations versus a third-party external assessment.
OUR ASSESSMENT RESULTS
Over the past three years, including 2022,
Sasol reviewed a total of 26 associations,
of which two were found to be ‘not
aligned’ with our assessment criteria.
The two associations not aligned were
the American Fuel & Petrochemical
Manufacturers and the International
Association of Oil & Gas Producers. These
are not listed in the summary tables
(pages 53 – 55) or in the supplement CAPS
as we had already exited these two
associations previously.
In 2022, we reviewed the relevant
associations; none were found to be not
aligned with our responsible climaterelated advocacy principles. Partial
alignment was indicated across some of
the relevant associations and, where
applicable, changing from our initial
assessment in 2020. This was by and large
influenced by the lack of a clear position
on transparency and disclosure and carbon
pricing. The alignment results are
presented in the sections that follow, with
an overall self-assessment indicating
either aligned, partially aligned or not
aligned for the past three years.
This year, to support our climate change
reporting, we compiled a Climate Advocacy
and Policy Supplement CAPS to provide
detailed information on our alignment
with trade associations, membership
fees and other relevant information
(see www.sasol.com).
MEMBERSHIP FEES
2021 TO 2022 TRADE ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIP
Sasol pays annual membership fees to
industry associations, where required. The
fees payable are calculated according to the
constitution of the respective association
(see CAPS for membership fees).
As part of our evaluation of whether trade association memberships provide value, we
consider the advocacy activities of key trade associations, including advocacy related to
climate change. While very important, climate change is but one of the many issues that
Sasol works on with the listed trade associations and therefore one of many issues that
Sasol considers when it evaluates how trade associations provide value.
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