As 2020 kicked off, Dan Gocher at the Australasian Center for Corporate Responsibility, a shareholder advocacy organization, was feeling “pretty optimistic” about its plans to force big Australian energy companies to tackle climate change.
Rather than drive investor attention away from climate change, the pandemic has cemented interest, with many investors fearing the economic fallout seen during the pandemic could be replicated if the world fails to halt global warming, said Mirza Baig, global head of governance at Aviva Investors. The fact that only a few of these resolutions passed demonstrates that the arguments within the investment world are far from settled. But pressure on energy companies from the world’s most powerful investors is rapidly increasing. Ordinarily for resolutions of this type, 99% of shareholders vote according to management recommendations, according to Follow This, a green shareholders’ group that filed resolutions at European energy companies BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Equinor.
After years of criticism over alleged inaction, BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager, in January revealed plans to put climate change at the center of its investment process by rolling out new ESG funds, divesting some coal holdings and taking a tough line on global warming during boardroom discussions with businesses around the world. At the time, BlackRock Chief Executive Larry Fink warned that global warming represented a risk to markets unlike any previous crisis.
With a growing business case, more than 450 asset managers, with $40 trillion in assets, have signed up to an initiative called Climate Action 100+ to force the world’s biggest carbon emitters to tackle global warming. BlackRock joined the group in January. Asset managers are also more willing than ever to use their vote to push for environmental change. “It was almost a rule that [asset managers] don’t vote for an NGO [climate] resolution. But it looks like that is changing now,” Van Baal said.
“There are a lot of [asset managers] who say they do [care about climate change] but can’t prove it,” he said. “There are people who say they do [factor it into their investments], but look at the voting record. Look at BlackRock’s voting record.”
HIDING THE PAST IS NO HELP FOR EARTH FUTURE Some Los Angeles Earthquake 💥have a 65 millions years ago ORIGIN...😟 unibirmingham miriamcosic CBCNews CNRS DavidSuzukiFDN UBC Griffith_Uni TheEconomist guardiannews futurasciences lemondefr Inrap GarciaDInrap
News flash: humans don't affect the weather. It's controlled by the planets and sun.
It’s been a landmark year for a lot of shit. 2020 can fly a kite.