Tricks of the Trade

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) analyzed responses from 1,824 companies to a 2013 CDP climate-reporting questionnaire to determine if companies disclosed their board seats in four influential U.S. trade associations: the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (COC), the American Petroleum Institute (API), and the Edison Electric Institute (EEI). The analysis found low rates of disclosure across these groups, with many companies failing to acknowledge their board positions even when publicly responding to the questionnaire.

• For the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), only one in five of the 73 board-member companies that responded publicly to the CDP questionnaire acknowledged their board seat. Additionally, 31 board companies did not respond to the request, and eight responded privately.
• Disclosure for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (COC) was extremely low; only one company, UPS, acknowledged its board seat out of 32 board-member companies that responded publicly to the questionnaire.
• Regarding the American Petroleum Institute (API), fewer than half of the companies that responded publicly to the CDP questionnaire acknowledged their board seats, with eight out of 17 public respondents doing so.
• For the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), more than half of the 54 board companies asked to complete the questionnaire did not respond; of the 26 that did respond publicly, only 15 acknowledged their board memberships.
• The UCS established strict criteria for what constitutes 'disclosure,' ruling that leaving a question field blank or providing information via external links, annual reports, or other non-direct means did not count as disclosure.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2014). Tricks of the Trade. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/tricks-of-the-trade-methodology.pdf

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. Tricks of the Trade. 2014. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/tricks-of-the-trade-methodology.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=Tricks of the Trade |date=January 2014 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/tricks-of-the-trade-methodology.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientists2014tricks, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{Tricks of the Trade}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2014}, month = jan, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/tricks-of-the-trade-methodology.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }