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| Overall Assessment |
Comment |
Score |
| Comprehensive |
General Motors provides a highly detailed and candid picture of its climate-related lobbying. It names numerous identifiable pieces of legislation and regulatory initiatives—among them the Inflation Reduction Act, the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act, the Build Back Better Act, state Low-Carbon Fuel Standard bills in Minnesota, New York and Washington, and its own proposed “National Zero Emission Vehicle (NZEV) program.” The company also discloses the full range of ways it tries to influence those measures. Examples include senior-leadership meetings with the U.S. Administration and congressional leaders, the “GM Engage” grassroots platform that “sent over 4,175 emails to 220 legislators from 33 states,” direct “public comment letters in support of LCFS initiatives in Minnesota and New York,” letters to the EPA Administrator, hosting President Biden and Senate Majority Leader Schumer at its facilities, and coalition work through the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, Business Roundtable and Clean Energy Buyers Association. GM is equally explicit about its objectives, backing policy elements such as “consumer BEV purchase incentives for new, used, and commercial BEVs,” production and investment tax credits for batteries and critical minerals, grants to convert factories to electric-vehicle production, and an extension of the federal EV tax credit because “purchase incentives are crucial for the mainstream success of the EV market.” It also seeks to place “more than 7 million long-range EVs on the road by 2030,” achieve “40–50 % of annual U.S. volumes of battery electric vehicles by 2030,” and eliminate “all tailpipe emissions from new light-duty vehicles in the U.S. by 2035.” By naming specific policies, identifying clear lobbying channels and targets, and spelling out the concrete legislative results it wants to see, GM demonstrates a comprehensive level of transparency around its climate lobbying activities.
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4
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| Overall Assessment |
Comment |
Score |
| Moderate |
General Motors describes an internal structure to oversee and align its lobbying with climate objectives, stating that the Boards Governance and Corporate Responsibility Committee oversees the Companys policies and strategies related to corporate responsibility, sustainability and U.S. political contributions and lobbying activities and that the Committee receives regular reports regarding GMs policy priorities and reviews the companys political engagement strategy, including political contributions and lobbying expenditures made during the past year, and previews the framework for the coming year. Day-to-day execution is delegated, as the Vice President, Global Public Policy is responsible for the daily activities consistent with this oversight, giving clear individual accountability. GM affirms that GM supports harmonized regulatory initiatives that provide clear guidance toward achieving Paris climate objectives and has a public commitment to conduct its engagements in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement. For indirect lobbying, the company notes that as part of our responsible participation in these memberships, GM regularly assesses alignment of their positions and advocacy strategy with our companys priorities and values and that it engages directly with the organizations to collaborate on the development of policy positions and recommendations that support the goals of the Paris Agreement, indicating a process that extends to trade associations. It has disclosed the climate lobbying of 7 of the trade associations it belongs to, including that all are aligned with its climate lobbying position and the aims of the Paris Agreement. This includes the US Chamber of Commerce, regarding which GM stated: "Differing positioning: "GM and the Chamber are not fully aligned on the policy merits of the IRA." Action taken: "GM engaged with the Chamber about the advantages and benefits of the economic incentives provided by the clean energy provisions, namely the on-shoring and ally-shoring of the BEV supply chain." However, while this shows engagement to rectify one disagreement, it does not demonstrate a comprehensive policy or process to identify and address trade association misalignment. Transparency measures include the voluntary publication of annual reports of political contributions, policy priorities and trade association memberships and the filing of federal and state Lobbying Disclosure Act reports. Although the GCRC conducts annual reviews of lobbying activities and GM reports that expanded PAC governance mitigate[s] reputational risk, the company does not disclose a detailed, public alignment audit of either its direct advocacy or its industry-association memberships, nor does it provide examples of corrective action or withdrawal from misaligned bodies. This indicates moderate governance with clear oversight roles and stated alignment reviews, but limited public detail on systematic monitoring outcomes or enforcement actions.
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2
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