American Airlines Group
What do our scores mean?
The organizational score represents the degree to which the organization influencing climate policy and legislation. Corporations also have relationship scores reflecting their links with influencers like trade associations. Both are combined to place the corporation in a performance band. Full details can be found here.
Engagement Intensity
The engagement intensity (EI) is a metric of the extent to which the company is engaging on climate change policy matters, whether positively or negatively. It is a number from 0 (no engagement at all) to 100 (full engagement on all queries/data points). Clearly energy companies are more affected by climate regulations and will have a higher EI than, for example retailers. So an organization’s score should be looked at in conjunction with this metric to gauge the amount of evidence we are using in each case as a basis for scoring. On our scale, an EI of more than 35 indicates a relatively large amount of climate policy engagement.
Relationship Score, December 2020
A new batch of industry associations has been uploaded onto the InfluenceMap system and the relationship scores recalculated accordingly.
Updated terminology, February 2021
We adjusted the terminology used to describe the queries running down the left-hand side of our scoring matrix and added additional explanatory text to the info-boxes. This has no impact on the scores and methodology. It has been done following user feedback to improve clarity.
- Details of Organization Score
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What do the 0,1,2 and NSs, NAs mean?
Each cell in the organization's matrix presents a chance for us to assess each data source against our column of climate change policy queries. We score from -2 to 2, with negative scores representing evidence of obstructive influence. "NA" means "not applicable" and "NS" means "not scored" - that is we did not find any evidence either way. In both cases, the cell's weighting is re-distributed over others. Red and blue cells represent highly interesting negative or positive influence respectively. Full details can be found here.
- Details of Relationship Score
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What is the Relationship Score
A corporation, as well as its organizational score will have a relationship score. It is computed by aggregating the organizational scores of the Influencers (trade bodies etc.) it has relationships with, weighted by both the strength of these relationships and the relative importance of the Influencers towards climate change policy. Full details can be found here.
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QUERIES
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DATA SOURCES | ||||||
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Main Web Site
The main organizational Web site of the company and its direct links to major affiliates and attached documents. |
Social Media
We search other media and sites funded or controlled by the organization, such as social media (Twitter, Facebook) and direct advertising campaigns of the organization. |
CDP Responses
We assess and score responses to two questions from CDP's climate change information request (12.3 a & 12.3c) related to political influence questions (currently these are not numerically scored by the CDP process). |
Legislative Consultations
Comments from the entity being scored on governmental regulatory consultation processes, including those obtained by InfluenceMap through Freedom of Information requests. |
Media Reports
Here we search in a consistent manner (the organization name and relevant query search terms) a set of web sites of representing reputable news or data aggregations. Supported by targeted searches of proprietary databases. |
CEO Messaging
Here we search in a consistent manner (the CEO/Chairman, organization name and relevant query search terms) a set of web sites of representing reputable news or data aggregations. Supported by targeted searches of proprietary databases. |
Financial Disclosures
We search 10-K and 20-F SEC filings where available, and non US equivalents where not. . |
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Communication of Climate Science
Is the organization transparent and clear about its position on climate change science? |
1
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NS | NA | NS | NS | NS | NS |
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Alignment with IPCC on Climate Action
Is the organization supporting the science-based response to climate change as set out by the IPCC? (the IPCC) |
0
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NS | NA | NS |
0
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-1
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2
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Supporting the Need for Regulations
To what extent does the organization express the need for regulatory intervention to resolve the climate crisis? |
-1
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NS | NA | NS | NS | NS |
-1
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Support of UN Climate Process
Is the organization supporting the UN FCCC process on climate change? |
1
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1
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NA | NS | NS | NS | NS |
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Transparency on Legislation
Is the organisation transparent about its positions on climate change legislation/policy and its activities to influence it? |
1
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NA |
-1
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NA | NA | NA | NS |
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Carbon Tax
Is the organisation supporting policy and legislative measures to address climate change: carbon tax. |
NS | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS |
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Emissions Trading
Is the organisation supporting policy and legislative measures to address climate change: emissions trading. |
NS | NS |
0
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NS | NS | NS |
-1
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Energy and Resource Efficiency
Is the organization supporting policy and legislative measures to address climate change: energy efficiency policy, standards, and targets |
NS | NS |
1
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NS | NS | NS | NS |
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Renewable Energy
Is the organization supporting policy and legislative measures to address climate change: Renewable energy legislation, targets, subsidies, and other policy |
1
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1
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NS | NS | NS | NS | NS |
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Energy Transition & Zero Carbon Technologies
Is the organization supporting an IPCC-aligned transition of the economy away from carbon-emitting technologies, including supporting relevant policy and legislative measures to enable this transition? |
NS | NS | NS | NS |
1
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0
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NS |
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GHG Emission Regulation
Is the organization supporting policy and legislative measures to address climate change: GHG emission standards and targets. Is the organization supporting policy and legislative measures to address climate change: Standards, targets, and other regulatory measures directly targeting Greenhouse Gas emissions |
-1
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NS | NS | NS | NS | NS | NS |
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Disclosure on Relationships
Is the organization transparent about its involvement with industry associations that are influencing climate policy, including the extent to which it is aligned with these groups on climate? |
-1
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NA |
-1
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NA | NA | NA | NS |
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
InfluenceMap Comment:
The Executive Vice President Corporate Affairs for American Airlines, Stephen Johnson, is on the Board of Directors for the US Chamber of Commerce
Stephen Johnson
Open PDF file of Data Source
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
InfluenceMap Comment:
American Airlines Group Inc. is a member of the US Chamber of Commerce
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
InfluenceMap Comment:
The Executive Vice President Corporate Affairs for American Airlines, Stephen Johnson, is on the Board of Directors for the US Chamber of Commerce
Stephen Johnson
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
InfluenceMap Comment:
American Airlines Group Inc. is a member of the US Chamber of Commerce
How to Read our Relationship Score Map
In this section, we depict graphically the relationships the corporation has with trade associations, federations, advocacy groups and other third parties who may be acting on their behalf to influence climate change policy. Each of the columns above represents one relationship the corporation appears to have with such a third party. In these columns, the top, dark section represents the strength of the relationship the corporation has with the influencer. For example if a corporation's senior executive also held a key role in the trade association, we would deem this to be a strong relationship and it would be on the far left of the chart above, with the weaker ones to the right. Click on these grey shaded upper sections for details of these relationships. The middle section contains a link to the organization score details of the influencer concerned, so you can see the details of its climate change policy influence. Click on the middle sections for for details of the trade associations. The lower section contains the organization score of that influencer, the lower the more negatively it is influencing climate policy.
Climate Lobbying Overview: American Airlines appears to have limited, mixed engagement on climate change in 2018-20. American Airlines has communicated positive top-line support for GHG emissions reductions in line with a 1.5°C target, and supported policies to promote sustainable aviation fuels. However, the company has also supported the global CORSIA offsetting scheme at the expense of more ambitious regional and national policy measures for aviation, and further appeared to support the weakening of the CORSIA scheme by changing its baseline date. American Airlines is a member of Airlines for America, which has negatively and actively lobbied against US climate policy for aviation.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: American Airlines has communicated support in its 2019 10-K report for GHG emission reductions in line with a 1.5°C target and appears supportive of the Paris Agreement. However, in 2020, American Airlines CEO Doug Parker appeared to support a less ambitious response to climate change, stating that “stopping flying is not the answer” for climate change. American Airlines further appears to oppose national and regional climate regulation, criticizing potential measures as offering “no meaningful aviation environmental improvements” in 2020. In its 2020 ESG Report, American Airlines states that it continues to “advocate for CORSIA as the single approach for addressing emissions from international aviation”, at the expense of other regional or national policies.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: In its 2020 ESG report, American Airlines appeared to support the weakening of CORSIA by endorsing a change in CORSIA’s baseline date to include only 2019 emissions compared to an average of 2019-20 emissions, substantially weakening its emissions reduction potential. In its 2020 ESG report, American Airlines further appeared criticize potential US domestic emission reduction targets for limiting aviation growth and imposing significant costs on the industry while supporting policies to promote sustainable aviation fuels. American Airlines also appears unsupportive of attempts to include aviation in the EU ETS in its 2019 10-K report. While American Airlines has disclosed its position and engagement with CORSIA and Sustainable Aviation Fuels, it has not disclosed its specific climate-relevant policy positions on issues including the CO2 standard for aviation.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Regarding its engagement and positioning on the energy transition for global aviation, American Airlines appears to have limited transparency and mixed engagement in 2019-20. In a February 2020 interview, American Airlines CEO Doug Parker appeared unsupportive of urgently transitioning aviation away from fossil fuels, stating support for synthetic fuels while emphasizing “the reality is that the airplanes are going to fly. And the more people that can be transported by efficient airplanes, the better that is for the environment”. However, evidence from 2019 suggests that American Airlines support the expansion of sustainable jet fuel for aviation.
Industry Association Governance: American Airlines publicly disclosed a list of its memberships to industry associations on its website without disclosing its direct engagement with them on climate change, their climate policy positions, or the company’s role within each association. In its 2020 CDP response, American Airlines only discloses its membership of the International Air Transport Association, failing to disclose its membership to other climate-relevant trade associations. The CEO of American Airlines is on the Board of Directors for Airlines for America, which have negatively and actively lobbied against US climate policy for aviation. The CEO of American Airlines is also a board member of the US Chamber of Commerce, which is actively lobbying against US climate policy.