The UN-convened Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance (NZAOA), which consists of 73 asset owner signatories with a collective US$10.6 trillion in assets, “strongly welcomes” the climate-related financial disclosure framework proposed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (US SEC). Introducing mandatory disclosures will go some way towards improving the availability, quality and consistency of climate-related data, which asset owners need to inform the decarbonisation of their portfolios and investment activities, NZAOA noted. However, signatories are also calling for more ambition, recommending that the SEC further requires companies to disclose forward-looking decarbonisation pathways, reporting separately on upstream and downstream Scope 3 emissions, and the degree of alignment of the companies’ business models and investment plans with a Paris-compliant 1.5°C scenario. Günther Thallinger, Chair of the Alliance, said: “A step-change in the quantity and quality of corporate disclosure of climate financial risks and opportunities are vital to reducing the direct costs, stewardship decision and investment opportunity costs that asset owners face in analysing companies position with respect to climate-related risks and opportunities.” The consultation period for the framework closes on 17 June. NZAOA signatories committed to transitioning their investment portfolios to net zero by 2050, establishing increasingly ambitious intermediate decarbonisation targets every five years, and regularly reporting on their process.
Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance Chair Günther Thallinger says proposed @SECGov rule change on climate disclosure "vital to reducing direct costs, stewardship decision and investment opportunity costs that asset owners face."
Read the full statement here: https://t.co/PytHOpkelC pic.twitter.com/nh55uhvtq4— UNEP FI (@UNEP_FI) June 8, 2022
