They said they expected the oil and gas sector to be "at the forefront of the transition" designed to cap global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average, and would use their voting rights to push for that, urging other shareholders to do the same.
It would "consider using escalation actions" over climate change strategies not in line with Paris, including voting against executive pay plans that did not link pay to performance on climate goals. The group added that it expected all companies it invested in to take the steps necessary to limit global warming, and that its benchmarks aligned with those of CA100+ and the International Energy Agency.
CA100+ said on Thursday that only 17% of the largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters had set medium-term targets in line with meeting the goal of capping warming at 1.5 degrees.It has itself come under fire from environmental campaigners for not pushing companies to do more. "Severe climate events are escalating far faster than investors are escalating their engagement with heavy emitters," said Guillaume Pottier, Stewardship Campaigner with Friends of the Earth France affiliate Reclaim Finance.Reporting by Toby Sterling; editing by John StonestreetSubscribe to our sustainability newsletter to make sense of the latest ESG trends affecting companies and governments.