Direct Lobbying Transparency
| Overall Assessment | Comment | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Comprehensive | Marks & Spencer provides a highly transparent picture of its climate-policy lobbying. It names multiple concrete policy files it has worked on, including the Government’s plans to reform “Extended Producer Responsibility,” the “Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS),” and its submission to the “Skidmore Review on Net Zero Legislation,” each described with clear thematic and geographic context. The company is equally specific about how and to whom it lobbies: it “provided written evidence to the Skidmore Review into Net Zero,” followed up with “oral evidence at a roundtable event with Chris Skidmore,” has “engaged with policy-makers at Defra and the devolved administrations, including officials, ministers and special advisers,” and has “signed a joint letter to the Environment Secretary,” demonstrating a mix of direct testimony, ministerial meetings and coalition letters aimed at clearly identified targets. Finally, M&S spells out the changes it is seeking: for EPR it wants measures that “drive behaviour change not only from business but also from local authorities,” including “increased onshoring of recycling services, more recycling of hard to recycle items and a focus on making it easier to recycle on the go packaging,” funded through a “hypothecated charge”; for ELMS it calls for “clarity and speedy delivery of the roll-out,” and in the Skidmore Review it backed outcomes such as “low impact farming, green skills, reducing packaging [and] electrification of truck fleets.” By clearly identifying the policies, the engagement channels and the concrete outcomes it advocates, M&S demonstrates comprehensive transparency around its climate-related lobbying activities. | 4 |