hidden_voices

Hidden Voices: The CBI, corporate lobbying and sustainabilityThe list of members of the CBI’s Energy Policy Committee demonstrates the organisation’shybrid membership, with the Association of Electricity Producers sitting alongside severalelectricity-generating companies. The membership is largely made up of energy producers,many of which are high greenhouse gas polluters whose main objective is to increase energyconsumption to boost profits. So there is inevitably an inbuilt bias among committeemembers against measures to reduce energy demand (through energy conservation) or toreduce greenhouse emissions (through carbon taxes).The Environmental Affairs Committee is similarly unrepresentative, dominated by majorpolluting industries, with significant representation from the water and waste sector.Box 2: CBI Environmental Affairs CommitteeChair: Calor GasWater and waste management members: AWG, Northumbrian Water, Onyx, Veolia,ViridorManufacturer members: Astra Zeneca, BNFL, GE Healthcare, GlaxoSmithKline, Invista,John Heathcoat and Co, Pilkington, Pittards, Rolls-Royce, Chemical Industries AssociationTransport and energy members: BMW, British Airways, ExxonMobil, Network Rail,Vauxhall MotorsOther: Barclays, Boots, RPS GroupSource: Head, Business Environment, CBINot only is the selection process secret, but committee membership is not normally divulged,although for this report the Head of Business Environment did reveal the membership of theEnvironmental Affairs Committee. But as a rule even CBI members are not allowed toknow who sits on committees and decides policy on their behalf. One member – theCo-operative Bank –asked for details of members of the Environmental Affairs Committeeand was astonished when the CBI would not disclose the information.As company boards are increasingly required to disclose everything from selection toremuneration, and even attendance, it seems fitting that their representative trade bodyshould be subject to the same requirements. 10Conflicts between members.It is obviously difficult to reconcile the views of such a diverse membership and in somecases, if not many, this will not be possible. This is particularly relevant when debatingenvironmental policy as there are clear winners and losers in terms of opportunities forbusiness. While there is no attempt to put policies to a vote at conferences, the CBI doesundertake broad consultations from time to time. But these appear to be designed to providesupport for an existing position rather than to genuinely discover members’ opinions, as wedescribe in the next chapter under ‘The regulatory burden – perception or reality?’ page 24.We were told by a member of the Energy Policy Committee that CBI attacks on the climatechange Levy by the Director General had emerged without any reference to that Committee.The Head of Business Environment confirmed that the controversial paper on environmentalregulation was not a product of the Environment Affairs Committee, although it did have asignificant input into the report.Even where policy has emerged from the formal committee process, the public position andstatement is determined by the Director General and senior communications staff, and canbe at odds with the views of the committee that developed the policy position, as we show inthe case study on environmental regulation, page 39.The obvious question, then, is why do so many disgruntled companies choose to remainwithin the CBI when it does not represent their views. The simple answer is that the CBI is16