Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) has widely expanded its climate engagement programme, increasing the number of companies in scope to 5,000 from 1,000 last year. The change was announced in its latest Climate Impact Pledge which also said LGIM had conducted more direct engagement with 105 ‘climate critical companies’ in 2022, including voting sanctions against 43. Its Climate Impact Pledge also analysed sectors and found over a third of oil and gas companies failed to meet LGIM’s minimum standards and most did not have sufficiently ambitious emissions targets. The banking, insurance and property sectors have also been singled out by LGIM as lagging when it comes to setting and meeting ambitious net-zero targets. LGIM also announced it had divested Air China and COSCO Shipping Holdings for failing to meet its standards on climate – taking the total number of companies on LGIM’s divestment list to 14. Michelle Scrimgeour, CEO at LGIM, said: “As a responsible investor, it is incumbent upon us to signal clearly to investee companies the actions we expect them to take to drive up market standards. Initiatives like our Pledge play a key role in this activity and demonstrate how we seek to fulfil our purpose: to create a better future through responsible investing. At this critical juncture, it is imperative that we all step up. Change is still possible – if we act now. The world has the means; it just requires the will.”
Today we’re proud to launch our seventh #LGIMClimatePledge which shows how we’ve held companies accountable in scaling up their climate ambitions to drive positive change. Read it here: https://t.co/jhAby7YTzS
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