PRI in Person: investors urged to back Climate Action 100+

‘A new five-year initiative designed to implement the Paris climate accord through collaborative investor engagement with the world’s largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters was unveiled at the PRI in Person event in Berlin.’ (Responsible Investor, 28 Sept). The project will target over 100 ‘Systemically Important Carbon Emitters’ or ‘SICEs’ — pronounced ‘sickies’. IPE report a spokesperson saying engagement focus is not new but “the scale … to coordinate and scale up is” (28 Sept)

The Climate Action 100+ website says that ‘Specifically, through collaborative engagement, investors will request companies to:

• take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, consistent with the goal of the Paris Agreement to keep global temperature rise well-below 2-degrees Celsius.
• provide enhanced corporate disclosure in line with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations and sector-specific Global Investor Coalition Investor Expectations on Climate Change guidance.
• implement a strong governance framework that clearly articulates the company board’s accountability and oversight of climate change.

In other news from PRI in Person:

• Transition Pathway Initiative launched latest report ‘on the cement and steel sectors [which] shows that few of the largest companies in these sectors are well prepared for the transition to a low-carbon economy. This echoes previous research by the TPI on the coal-mining, electricity, and oil and gas sectors.’ (TPI press note, Cement report (pdf, 33 pages), Steel report (pdf, 31 pages), 27 Sept)
• ‘Japan’s financial services regulator expects the country’s investors to start working together on engagement with companies, according to [Amame Fujimoto,] the deputy director of its corporate accounting and disclosure division. (IPE, 28 Sept)
• ‘Physical risks of climate change ‘underappreciated’: Deutsche Asset Management CEO (IPE, 28 Sept)
• ‘For more than a decade the most sustainable companies have outperformed the MSCI World’ according to oekom research (Investment Europe, 25 Sept)
• Beyond Ratings launches tool to measure government bond portfolios with climate targets (RI, 29 Sept)

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