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Spotty report card on climate for top asset managers
 By Marlowe HOOD
 Paris (AFP) Jan 14, 2021

French court to hear landmark case on climate inaction
Paris (AFP) Jan 14, 2021 - A Paris court will begin hearing a complaint brought by NGOs backed by two million citizens on Thursday accusing the French state of failing to act to halt climate change.

The NGOs want to the court to hold the state responsible for ecological damage and say victory would mark a symbolic step in the fight to persuade governments to do more.

An international accord signed in Paris five years ago aims to limit global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels, and preferably to 1.5 degrees.

But experts say governments are far from meeting their commitments and anger is growing among the younger generation over inaction, symbolised by the campaigns of Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg.

The French case is part of a mounting push from climate campaigners across the world to use courts against governments.

In 2019, the Dutch Supreme Court ordered the Netherlands to slash its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25 percent of 1990 levels by the end of 2020 after a case brought by an NGO.

The French case began in December 2018 when four NGOs accused the government of failing to reduce emissions in a formal complaint backed by more than two million people in an online petition -- a French record.

Unsatisfied with the response, the NGOs, including Greenpeace France and Oxfam France, then filed their legal complaint in March 2019 seeking symbolic damages of just one euro ($1.21) from the state.

- Exceeding carbon budgets -

"We are full of hope for this hearing and the decision that will follow," Jean-Francois Julliard, director of Greenpeace France, told AFP.

Julliard said he wanted the court to recognise that the state was not doing enough.

"The icing on the cake would be a decision to urge the state to do more to put France back on the trajectory of the Paris Agreement", he said.

While France has committed to reducing its emissions by 40 percent by 2030 compared with 1990, the NGOs say it is exceeding the carbon budgets it pledged.

They also complain of shortcomings in the energy renovation of buildings or development of renewable energy, saying this is having a daily impact on the health and quality of life in France.

- Natural disasters 'increasing' -

The NGOs have presented 100 testimonies from individuals with their case, after collecting more than 25,000 online.

"For me, climate change -- with the increase in the frequency of natural disasters, the rise in sea temperatures and the progression of coastal erosion -- is a reality now," said Jean-Francois, a producer of mussels on the island of Oleron in western France.

The government rejects accusations of inaction, pointing to the energy-climate law of 2019 that "reinforces the climate goals" by aiming for carbon neutrality by 2050 or a 40 percent drop in the use of fossil fuels by 2030.

In its defence sent to the court, the government also rejected the request for compensation over ecological damage, arguing that the French state cannot be held solely responsible for climate change when France represents around 1 percent of global emissions.

Julliard acknowledged the case could be a double-edged sword for the NGOs.

"If we lose, then it will be easy for the state to say: 'We won in court, so stop your incessant demands,'" he said.

The world's top 30 fund managers, collectively holding $50 trillion in assets, get mixed marks on steering the global economy into alignment with Paris climate targets, according to a report released Thursday.

The annual assessment from London-based think tank InfluenceMap graded investment giants across three criteria: support for climate-related shareholder resolutions, the greenness of portfolios, and engagement with the companies in those portfolios.

"Given the huge influence these asset managers have over the global economy, it is vital they take action to ensure the world can meet the climate goals of the Paris Agreement," said InfluenceMap executive director Dylan Tanner.

The 2015 climate treaty enjoins nations to cap global warming at "well below" two degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels, and 1.5C if possible. On current trends, the planet will heat up at least 3C.

With 1.1C of warming so far, the world has seen a crescendo of deadly extreme weather, including superstorms made more destructive by rising seas.

When it comes to public encouragement for companies to green their business models and lobbying practices, European asset managers continued to outperform their US counterparts, the report showed.

Among the top 10 firms, each with at least $1.5 trillion under management, Legal & General IM, AllianzGI/PIMCO and Amundi all got top marks.

Fidelity Investments, Capital Group and Goldman Sachs AM -- all US-based -- were at the bottom of the class.

BlackRock, the world's biggest asset manager with more than $7 trillion under management, improved it's grade in 2020 after announcing steps to divest from coal.

But the US-based giant got a failing mark when it came to supporting shareholder resolutions calling for more proactive climate policies.

Such shareholder initiatives have become an increasingly powerful driver of change in companies, as well as a signal to the broader market.

"More and more, we are seeing investors wanting to know that corporate lobbying and business models are aligned with Paris targets," said Tanner.

Vanguard, Capital Group and Fidelity Investments all scored even more poorly than BlackRock in this area.

At the same time, 2020 saw BlackRock and two other top 10 fund managers join the Climate Action 100+ investor initiative, a "promising development" that could speed up corporate transition toward carbon neutrality, according to InfluenceMap.

Finally, a portfolio analysis of the world's largest funds -- looking at 3,000 companies with more than $20 trillion in market capitalisation -- showed that they deviated strongly from the Paris temperature target, especially in certain sectors.

"The world's automakers are not transitioning to electric vehicles at a fast enough pace, the coal production sector is winding down too slowly, and the power sector is not phasing out fossil fuel generation nor introducing renewables quickly enough," Tanner told AFP.

Sectors and companies that fail to accelerate the transition to low carbon economies face a massive risk of stranded assets, he added.

mh/pvh

GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP

BLACKROCK


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 A UN-backed summit Monday of political leaders and CEOs pledging to reverse the accelerating destruction of the natural world was long on promises and short on cash. The French-led One Planet Summit, backed by the United Nations and the World Bank, saw more than 50 nations support a plan to create protected areas covering 30 percent of global lands and oceans. The so-called "30-30" initiative could become the cornerstone of a critical biodiversity meet in Kunming, China, postponed last year due ... read more
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