[rad-green] Report Shows How World's Top Capitalists Driving Humanity 'Head-On Into' Global Climate Emergency

*https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/11/04/report-shows-how-worlds-top-capitalists-driving-humanity-head-global-climate
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/11/04/report-shows-how-worlds-top-capitalists-driving-humanity-head-global-climate>Common
Dreams          November 4, 2019Report Shows How World's Top Capitalists
Driving Humanity 'Head-On Into' Global Climate EmergencyThe world's leading
asset managers, with trillions of dollars under their direction, continue
to vote down efforts to address the crisis.by Jessica Corbett, staff writer*

*A child takes part in a Global Divestment Mobilisation (GDM) action in
Davao, Philippines. (Photo: 350.org
<https://www.flickr.com/photos/350org/33782210564/in/album-72157680242520152/>/Flickr/cc)*

A "striking <https://twitter.com/edwardcmason/status/1191314912473178112>"
report published Monday by the U.K.-based charity ShareAction exposes how
the largest U.S. asset managers are "overwhelmingly
<https://shareaction.org/us-investors-are-too-cosy-with-companies-on-climate-crisis-miles-behind-europe/>"
stalling corporate efforts to tackle the climate crisis despite those
companies' public proclamations and the growing demands for bold action
from people around the world.

ShareAction promotes "responsible investment
<https://www.investopedia.com/terms/u/un-principles-responsible-investment-pri.asp>."
According to the new report
<https://shareaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Voting-Matters.pdf> (pdf),
the group's "vision is a world where ordinary savers and institutional
investors work together to ensure our communities and environment are safe
and sustainable for all."

As the report—entitled *Voting Matters: Are Asset Managers Using Their
Proxy Votes for Climate Action?—*explains:

Investors have a key role to play in helping avert dangerous climate
change. One way they can do so is by using their proxy voting rights. Proxy
voting is the primary means by which shareholders can exert influence over
their investee companies and exert stewardship... Yet, this stewardship
tool is often underused by investors. This year, the directors of BP,
Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, and Total were all (re-)elected with on average
97% support from shareholders, despite these companies being some of the
largest emitting companies on earth and lacking plans to transition to a
well-below 2°C world.

*Voting Matters* analyzes how 57 of the world's largest asset managers have
voted on 65 recent shareholder resolutions that covered topics including
"climate-related disclosures, companies' lobbying activities, and the
setting of targets aligned with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement."

ShareAction researchers found that "U.S. asset managers are clear laggards
in terms of proxy voting on climate, whilst European asset managers lead
the way." The top 10 worst performers overall are based in the United
States; even the report's highest ranked U.S. managers score lower than
those in Europe and the rest of the world.

"These results are highly concerning," *Voting Matters* says, "as the 20
largest U.S. fund managers control about 35% of global assets under
management (AUM), more than double the 14% run by the top 20 European
players."

The worst performers overall are Capital Group, T. Rowe Price, Blackrock
and J.P. Morgan—which are tied for third—Vanguard Asset Management,
Fidelity Management and Research Co., Wellington Management International,
Franklin Templeton, Northern Trust, State Street Global Advisors, and
MetLife Investment Management.

"Six out of 10 of the worst performers have come out in support of the
Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and joined at
least one investor engagement initiative on climate change," the report
notes, "yet fail to vote in favor of resolutions on climate-related
disclosures."

The report's author, ShareAction campaign manager Jeanne Martin, said in a
statement Monday that "you can't boast climate-awareness in public and
block climate goals in private."

"Ultimately, these investors will be judged on their voting, which is the
most powerful tool at their disposal," Martin added. "They have the power
to put the brakes on the climate emergency, but they're on auto-pilot,
driving us head-on into it. We hope their clients take note of these
findings which separate out those who are really walking the walk on
climate change."

Martin, in a series of tweets Monday, outlined some of the report's key
findings, including how fund managers are responding to the more than 50
investor initiatives that aim to compel and support investor activity on
the climate crisis, such as the Climate Action 100+ (CA100+) Initiative, a
global coalition
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/11/04/%20a%20global%20coalition%20that%20pushes%20some%20of%20the%20world's%20highest%20emitting%20companies%20to%20pursue%20climate%20action.>
that
pushes some of the world's highest emitting companies to pursue climate
action.

Highlighting ShareAction's recommendations for asset owners, Martin
concluded that "as stewards of capital for millions of beneficiaries, asset
owners have a duty to monitor the engagement activities and proxy voting
records of their asset managers."

The report notes that "the last few years have seen a shift in investors'
attitudes towards climate change." For example, "1,118 institutions
representing US$11.48 trillion in assets and more than 58,000 individual
representing US$5.2 billion have committed to divest from fossil fuels."

For those figures, *Voting Matters* cites Fossil Free
<https://gofossilfree.org/divestment/commitments/#>, a project of the
global environmental group 350.org. DivestInvest and 350.org detailed
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/09/09/people-power-winning-fossil-fuel-divestment-movement-celebrates-11-trillion>
the
divestment movement's successes in September with a report—released just
ahead of the Financing the Future summit in Cape Town—that celebrated
surpassing the $11 trillion milestone.

"What began as a moral call to action by students is now a mainstream
financial response to growing climate risk to portfolios, the people, and
the planet," the September report said. "The momentum has been driven by a
people-powered grassroots movement, ordinary people on every continent
pushing their local institutions to take a stand against the fossil fuel
industry and for a world powered by 100 percent renewable energy."

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