This is a rolling stream of the latest signatories to Climate Action 100+ and its activities
Rio Tinto to put TCFD reporting to a vote
17 February 2021
Shareholders in Rio Tinto have welcomed the mining giant’s decision to disclose its greenhouse gas emissions annually and put its Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures reporting to a vote at the annual meeting in 2022.
“Investor-led engagement with companies through the Climate Action 100+ is designed to achieve effective climate change outcomes in the best interests of the Australian economy and shareholder returns”, said Emma Herd, CEO of the Investor Group on Climate Change and member of the global steering committee for the Climate Action 100+.
“This is part of a global investor push to increase company disclosure on climate-related financial impacts and address systemic climate change risks.”
Engagement with Rio Tinto was co-led by AustralianSuper and CCLA.
Andrew Gray, director ESG and stewardship at AustralianSuper and member of Climate Action 100+, said: “Rio Tinto supported the recommendations of the TCFD and we welcome its first report under this structure. 2018 saw the company undertake technological breakthroughs in materials that have a key role in the low carbon transition. We are also encouraged that Rio Tinto has joined the Energy Transitions Commission, which takes a multi-sector approach to hard-to-abate sectors like steel”.
RLAM leads engagement with Glencore
16 February 2021
Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) has co-lead engagement with Glencore through Climate Action 100+, leading the controversial mining company to announce it will put its climate plan to a shareholder vote in its upcoming AGM.
Carlota Garcia-Manas, senior responsible investment analyst at RLAM, said: “This constitutes another big step in the transformation of this company and reinforces the value of shareholder engagements.
“Over the past few years, RLAM has led an investor engagement with Glencore on climate issues, and as active shareholders we have worked with its leadership to bring about change that not only secures long-term value but also meets our shared objectives of an accelerated decarbonisation and a just transition.”
Glencore’s announcement follows its February 2019 statement of support for the goals of the Paris agreement, and its pledge to be net zero by 2050 commitment in December 2020. But the company has also faced corruption allegations, and an investigation into suspicions of bribery.
Fixed income ETF provider Tabula signs Climate Action 100+
11 January 2021
Specialist fixed income ETF provider Tabula Investment Management has become a signatory to Climate Action 100+.
This is a growing global initiative led by asset owners to encourage the world’s largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters take necessary action on climate change. Its central goals are to improve governance of climate change, reduce emissions and strengthen climate-related disclosure, primarily through proactive engagement.
CEO Michael John Lytle said: ” We are proud to be a signatory to Climate Action 100+. Fund managers – both active and passive – and the investors they represent, have a key role to play in tackling the range of issues that fall under the ESG umbrella.
Tabula is also a signatory to the UNPRI and a member of the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change.
Stephanie Pfeifer, CEO, Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change and Climate Action 100+ global steering committee member, said: “Now involving more than 540 investors, representing more than $52 trn in assets, Climate Action 100+ continues to grow in scale, strength and impact. Each new investor has a key role to play in building on the success of the initiative to date. As the latest signatory, I look forward to Tabula playing a full and active role in engagement through Climate Action 100+.”
SEI launches stewardship strategy and joins Climate Action 100+
9 January 2021
Solutions provider SEI has launched a global investment stewardship strategy and joined Climate Action 100+.
The new strategy aims to embed sustainability into shareholder engagement and proxy voting practices across the company’s approximately $248.1bn assets under management.
“Our voice as shareholders is meaningful to the companies in which we invest. We take our role as investment stewards seriously and seek to use our voice – through engagement and proxy voting – to support long-term management of environmental, social and governance risks and opportunities across our investments,” said Kevin Barr, head of SEI’s investment management unit.
“We will integrate insights learned from engagement into proxy voting across our global asset base.”
SEI said its engagement practices – aided by its strategic partnership with Sustainalytics, which provides engagement services in its suite of active ownership offerings – would continue to focus on applying guidelines, for example from the UN Global Compact, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, and the UN Guiding Principles on Human Rights.
The firm also said it would be participating in collaborative investor initiatives. It has joined Climate Action 100+, an investor-led initiative to engage companies whose businesses and operations have an opportunity to mitigate climate change and support the transition to a low-carbon economy.
“Climate change presents systemic risks to the global economy, while many companies and sectors that proactively address this megatrend may benefit from the transition to a low-carbon economy,” said Jana Holt, global director of sustainable investing solutions in SEI’s investment management unit.
“By becoming a signatory to Climate Action 100+, we join more than 500 institutional investors globally in an effort to work with companies to improve governance of climate risks and opportunities, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and strengthen climate-related financial disclosures.”
