Global investors driving business transition: Climate Action 100+ is the world’s largest investor engagement initiative on climate change.

Through their equity and fixed-income holdings, investors have a powerful opportunity to effect behaviour change, diversification and transformation among the world’s most carbon-intensive companies. Since its inception, Climate Action 100+ has grown to include over 700 investors managing over $68 trillion in assets under management. 

Climate Action 100+ signatories are using their voice as institutional share owners to pursue three goals:

  • Implement a strong governance framework that articulates boards accountability for climate change risk.
  • Set a series of emissions reduction targets consistent with the Paris Agreement goal of 1.5C of average global warming.
  • Provide disclosure in line with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.

To support the engagement activities undertaken by signatories, Climate Action 100+ has developed the Net-Zero Company Benchmark. This tool assesses the performance of focus companies against the initiative’s three high-level goals: emissions reduction, governance, and disclosure. Now in its third round, the Benchmark contains two types of analyses, a Disclosure Framework and Alignment Assessments, which complement each other and provide insight into a company's net zero emissions transition.

You can view the most recent company responses to the benchmark here.

Action pour le Climat 100+
Engagements have produced commitments that are redefining industries

Rio Tinto, the world’s second largest mining company, has exited from mining coal, published a TCFD report, and committed to an asset by asset review to set emissions reduction targets.

See more companies actions here and here.

 

Climate Action 100+ has also implemented an engagement process undertaken by investors.

Signatories have been organised into engagement teams to meet with each of the 166 companies that are the focus of the initiative. Before meeting with company executives and board members, engagement teams discuss progress at the company, or lack of progress, and the appropriate strategy for convincing the company to transition to a low-carbon platform.

Lead investors and those engaging companies individually (outside of a team), must disclose through a bi-annual survey their engagement plans and priorities over the coming 12 months to ensure strong and concerted action.

If company meetings fail to produce results, engagement teams consider a range of alternatives:

  • Conducting investor roundtables
  • Asking a question at a company earnings call or Annual General Meeting (AGM)
  • Making a statement at a company AGM
  • Writing a public letter to the company
  • Supporting shareholder resolutions on climate change risks and opportunities
  • Voting for the removal of directors who have failed in their accountability of climate change risk
  • Voting against reports, accounts and company led resolutions
  • Making joint statements with the company
75%
We continue to observe progress on the original high-level goals of the coalition:
  • Aligning Emissions: 75% of focus companies have now committed to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 or sooner across all or some of their emissions footprint (up from 69% in March 2022). In addition, over a third of focus companies have set long-term targets that align with a 1.5°C pathway (an increase of 9% from March 2022).
  • Climate governance: 92% of focus companies have some level of board committee of climate change (slight increase from 90% in March 2022).
  • TCFD reporting: 91% of focus companies have aligned with TCFD principles or by employing climate-scenario planning (small increase from 89% in March 2022)
More information

Climate Action 100+ is coordinated by five investor networks: Asia Investor Group on Climate Change (AIGCC); the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES), Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC); Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) and Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). These organizations, along with investor representatives from AustralianSuper, California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), GAM Investments, Generali Insurance Asset Management form the global Steering Committee for the initiative.


For more information on the governance of Climate Action 100+: www.climateaction100.org

The full list of investor signatories and focus companies can be found here : investors & companies

Follow Climate Action 100+ :
www.climateaction100.org
@ActOnClimate100