Climate Accountability Scorecard

The report evaluates fossil fuel companies using a scoring guide that measures corporate political disclosure, engagement with Congress, and support for climate policies. It finds a wide disparity in performance, with some companies like ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil receiving 'Good' scores for their policy frameworks, while others like CONSOL Energy and Arch Coal are rated 'Egregious' or 'Poor' due to their opposition to the Paris Agreement or lack of political transparency.

• The Union of Concerned Scientists uses a scoring guide to evaluate companies across four main areas: General Political Activity and Spending (via the CPA-Zicklin Index), Direct Influence on Climate Policy, Consistent support for US policy action to reduce carbon emissions, and Indirect Influence through business alliances.
• CONSOL Energy received an 'Egregious' score of -9 for supporting fair and effective climate policies, characterized by a total lack of information on political spending and silence on the Paris climate agreement.
• Arch Coal is rated 'Poor' with a score of -7, having publicly supported the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement.
• Peabody Energy is rated 'Fair' (score of 2) despite high marks for political disclosure; it actively opposed the Clean Power Plan and used 'climate science disinformation' by cherry-picking IPCC reports to justify its position.
• ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips both received 'Good' scores of 3, with both companies expressing support for the Paris Agreement and advocating for a revenue-neutral carbon tax.
• Royal Dutch Shell received a 'Good' score of 4, noting its support for the Paris Agreement's goal to limit temperature rise to 'well below two degrees Celsius (2°C)' and its membership in the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative.
• BP is rated 'Fair' with a score of 2; while it supports carbon pricing and the Paris Agreement's aims, it failed to explicitly endorse the agreement's specific global temperature goal.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2018). Climate Accountability Scorecard. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2018/10/climate-accountability-scorecard-2018-appendix-fair-effective-climate-policies.pdf

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. Climate Accountability Scorecard. 2018. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2018/10/climate-accountability-scorecard-2018-appendix-fair-effective-climate-policies.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=Climate Accountability Scorecard |date=October 2018 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2018/10/climate-accountability-scorecard-2018-appendix-fair-effective-climate-policies.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientists2018climate, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{Climate Accountability Scorecard}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2018}, month = oct, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2018/10/climate-accountability-scorecard-2018-appendix-fair-effective-climate-policies.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }