The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS)has thrown its weight behind a shareholder resolution to force Australia & New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) to disclose its climate risk at its annual general meeting (AGM).
The resolution, which has been brought by the Asset Owners Disclosure Project (AODP), will require ANZ to:
- Provide more information about its exposure to carbon-intensive industries;
- Set public targets for reducing its exposure to carbon-intensive industries; and
- Make it easier for shareholders to table resolutions.
The AODP claims that ANZ is the worst performing bank in terms of lending to fossil fuel companies out of Australia's largest banks.
The resolution will be seen as a litmus test for investors' commitment to holding companies to account on climate change, following a landmark deal at the UN climate change conference (COP21), according to some market observers.
"With the ink not yet dry on the COP21 agreement, pension funds everywhere have this unique opportunity to put their commitments into action by cleaning up ANZ," said Julian Poulter, CEO at AODP.
The AODP describes its goal as protecting retirement savings and other long-term investments from the risks posed by climate change by demanding improved disclosure and industry best practice.
CalPERS, one of the world's largest pension funds, took the unusual step of indicating that it would vote in favour of the resolution following an online campaign by AODP to garner commitments from Australia's super funds.
Other asset owners are refusing to reveal how they will vote ahead of the AGM scheduled for 17 December.
