Irish Independent | By actively engaging with companies on Environmental and Social Governance issues, pension fund managers can drive positive change.
When we think about ways to fight climate change, our pensions may well be the last thing to spring to mind. Yet one of the most powerful things people can do to protect the planet is to ensure that the money in their pensions is invested in companies and practices that are combating – rather than driving – the current climate crisis.
While the power of small individual investors to affect change here is likely limited, institutional investors carry considerable clout.
A recent action taken by 27 major shareholders at Shell, including a number of European pension schemes, is one such case in point.
Earlier this year, these shareholders called on the company to bring its emissions reduction targets in line with the Paris Climate Agreement. Some of the investors, who represent almost 5 percent of Shell’s total shareholding, include Amundi, Greater Manchester Pension Fund, Rathbones Group, Scottish Widows and the UK’s Pension Protection Fund.
The activist group Follow This coordinated the resolution on Shell to align its environmental targets with those of the Paris Climate Agreement.
Shell’s shareholders will be asked to support this resolution as an advisory vote at this year’s annual general meeting, expected to take place in London next month. Mark van Baal, founder of Follow This, believes that if passed, this resolution will give Shell a shareholder mandate to significantly cut its carbon footprint.
Speaking at the time the 27 investors agreed to back the resolution, Mr Van Baal said: “Large shareholders hold the key to tackling the climate crisis with their votes at shareholders’ meetings.
“Shell will only change if more shareholders vote for change.”
