The Church of England Pensions Board intends to vote against Volkswagen’s management and supervisory boards at its upcoming AGM over the German auto manufacturer’s lack of disclosure over climate lobbying. The UK-based pension scheme, which is a designated Climate Action 100+ lead investor with VW, will vote against the actions of the Board of Management, actions of the members of the Supervisory Board, and the re-election of three members of the Supervisory Board, on 10 May. “We have repeatedly submitted shareholder amendments seeking disclosures on the company’s approach to corporate climate lobbying. These regrettably continue to be rejected,” said the fund, one of a group of asset owners taking legal action against Volkswagen, after it refused to allow a resolution challenging it to disclosure its climate lobbying activities. “We also have concerns about the ambition of their short- and medium-term emissions reduction targets, which were independently assessed as misaligned with 1.5C by Transition Pathway Initiative (TPI) this February,” said Laura Hillis, Director of Climate & Environment, Church of England Pensions Board.
