The Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF) has announced plans to engage with companies with the worst carbon footprint as part of a strategic initiative on climate change.
LAPFF, which represents 72 UK local authority pension funds with about £200bn under management, has partnered with the 50/50 Climate Project to boost its interaction with companies over climate risk and the potential impact on shareholder value.
The 50/50 Climate Project describes itself as a ‘non-profit resource and action centre to help institutional investors bring climate competence to corporate boards’. It engages with the 50 largest public companies with ‘systematically significant’ carbon footprints.
The Project has already made significant progress in securing proxy access for shareholder-promoted director candidates in S&P 500 firms, with this increasing from just 1% in 2014 to more than half by the beginning of 2017.
LAPFF said the partnership would bolster its efforts to ensure climate competency on company boards and enable increased collective investor action on improving climate strategies and decision-making.
It also said the link-up would complement LAPFF’s work with other collaborative initiatives through providing research on company risks and opportunities, and analysis on company boards’ climate change activity.
The announcement comes less than a week after 62% of shareholders, including the Church Commissioners for England, voted in favour of a climate change disclosure resolution at ExxonMobil.
LAPFF chairman Keiran Quinn said: “Recent weeks have shown the power shareholders can exert on companies to take seriously the risks posed by climate change. Coming on the back on these successes and several years of effective collaborations, this partnership marks a new era in the Forum’s efforts to safeguard shareholder value against climate-change risk.”
