Abrdn plc

Sign up to access all our data and the evidence and analysis underlying our overall scores. Once you've created an account, we'll get in touch with further details:

Sign Up

Direct Lobbying Transparency

Overall Assessment	Comment	Score
Limited	abrdn plc provides only limited visibility into its climate-related lobbying. The sole concrete policy reference is its participation in the “UK Transition Plan Taskforce (TPT): Consultation on the TPT Disclosure Framework and Implementation Guidance,” where it states that it “responded to the open consultation.” Beyond this, the company speaks broadly about supporting the Paris Agreement, coal phase-out and “higher carbon pricing,” but no other specific laws or regulations are identified. With respect to mechanisms, abrdn notes one clear method—submitting written feedback to the TPT—and more general practices such as participating in COP sessions, holding “regular conversations with national stakeholders including government, opposition, independent institutions and civil society,” and engaging sovereign issuers during “meetings, roadshows and research trips,” yet it rarely pinpoints the government bodies or jurisdictions involved. Desired outcomes are articulated only for the TPT engagement, where the firm says its objective is “to support the development of a best practice framework” that delivers “greater comparability and credibility of climate-related disclosure” and promotes “international interoperability and clarity within the final guidance”; other statements remain high-level aspirations, such as wanting “oil & gas companies [to] reduce their investments in fossil-fuel exploration.” The absence of additional named policies, clear lobbying targets, or multiple concrete outcomes means the overall transparency of abrdn’s climate-policy lobbying remains modest.	1

Lobbying Governance

Overall Assessment	Comment	Score
Limited	Abrdn’s disclosures focus extensively on sustainability governance within its investment business but provide only limited detail on how it governs its own lobbying activities. It highlights that it “carefully manage climate-related lobbying by ensuring appropriate oversight, transparent disclosure, and alignment of activities with the company’s strategy,” and under its stewardship framework it expects that disclosures “should be underpinned by a coherent policy that: explains public policy priorities and the rationale for associated expenditure, identifies the management positions responsible for public policy engagement, and provides appropriate mechanisms for board oversight.” However, the company does not disclose any specific processes for reviewing or approving lobbying positions, nor does it identify a named individual or board committee with responsibility for overseeing lobbying alignment. We found no evidence of a dedicated climate-lobbying review process, no description of how it engages with or exits trade associations whose positions conflict with its climate strategy, and no published audit or report evaluating the alignment of its lobbying with its climate-related objectives.	1