As the article in the url below explains, we may well be getting somewhere (at least in terms of climate change), thanks to a stand taken recently by Climate Action 100+:
"Climate Action 100+, an initiative supported by 518 institutional investor organisations across the globe [who collectively manage 'more than US$47tn in assets'], has written to 161 fossil fuel, mining, transport and other big-emitting companies to set 30 climate measures and targets against which they will be analysed in a report to be released early next year."
Whether this is sufficient or happening quickly enough are both important questions, but this statement at least feels substantive. Specifically, the group is seeking public commitments to target net-zero emissions:
"It is the latest step in a campaign by climate-concerned shareholders to force business leaders to explain how their targets and strategies will help reach the goals of the 2015 Paris agreement."
Why these 161 companies?
"The targeted companies are responsible for up to 80% of global industrial greenhouse gas emissions. They include mining giant BHP, which last week promised to reduce emissions from its operations by 30% over the next decade on a path to net zero by 2050 after sustained pressure from activist shareholder groups. Others on the list include Exxon Mobil, PetroChina, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Rio Tinto, BlueScope Steel and major Australian energy companies AGL, Santos, Woodside and Origin."
And, the demands are both specific and extensive:
"… the Climate Action steering committee lists 'indicators' on which the businesses will be measured, including whether they have strategies to reach net zero emissions by 2050 or sooner and reduce the 'scope 3' emissions released by customers using the companies' products."
The inclusion of scope 3 emissions, in particular, raises the bar for these companies to meet the group's expectations:
"Stephanie Pfeifer, chief executive of the UK-based Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change, said a step-change was urgently required, and the analysis would ensure it was clear which companies were treating climate change as a 'business-critical issue.' 'Investors will be paying particular attention to those shown to be falling short,' she said."
We will see. Being willing to hold firms to account is essential in order to ensure such actions are understood by the firms to be in their best interests.
Take care
David
David Chandler
© Sage Publications, 2020
Investors that manage US$47tn demand world's biggest polluters back plan for net-zero emissions
By Adam Morton
September 14, 2020
The Guardian
