Welcome to another edition of the Chronicle.
The Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), the organisation of central banks and financial supervisors which has grown to include 36 members, published its First Comprehensive Report in mid-April, following the preliminary report of October last year. They came up with a series of recommendations for central banks, supervisors, companies and policymakers:
2. Integrating sustainability factors into own-portfolio management;
3. Bridging data gaps [sharing and making data publicly available];
4. Building awareness and intellectual capacity and encouraging technical assistance and knowledge sharing.
In early April, more than 60 signatories, including investors and investor groups representing more than $33tn under management, CEOs of big businesses, IPCC lead coordinating authors, and representatives of vulnerable countries, signed a letter to the executive director of the International Energy, Agency, asking that the agency revise its World Energy Outlook scenarios, which are published every year in November. The letter asks the IEA take steps to ensure the central New Policies Scenario is no longer interpreted as the guidance scenario, and that it is understood to put the world on track for 2.7 - 3.3C of warming. It also asks that the Sustainable Development Scenario is made the central scenario, that it contains an emissions trajectory consistent with 1.5C; and that it takes a precautionary approach to negative emissions technologies.
SEC rules bite on climate-related resolutions: A large number of climate-related shareholder resolutions have been filed this with US companies this season - ISS put the number at 75 - although, as Alliance Advisors notes in the Harvard Law School Forum, climate resolutions have also been disproportionately affected by new SEC guidance around exclusions based on ordinary business and economic relevance.
A shareholder resolution we believe worth watching this AGM season. The resolution, filed by employees, asks Amazon to prepare a report on how it is planning for climate disruption, and how it plans to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels. It is linked to a letter signed by more than 7,000 employees (Wired, NYT). The filers reported last week that ISS and Glass Lewis had both recommended voting for the resolution.
UKSIF issues annual asset manager survey on climate risk attitudes
A survey of 39 fund managers shows the sector’s attitude to climate risk and investment in fossil fuel companies is moving, but too slowly. The survey focuses on the engagement between fund managers and integrated oil companies (IOCs), showing that there is progress in the area, as only two out of 39 fund managers see IOCs that do not respond to climate change-related risk within 10 years as attractive investments (FT, Bloomberg and the Times).
The Chronicle is written by Kate Mackenzie and Denise Puca; you can contact us on chronicle@financedialogue.org