Royal London Asset Management will abstain from voting on Shell’s climate transition plan at the energy firm’s AGM, despite acknowledging “considerable progress”. “There is not enough certainty in the plan that it aligns with the goals of the Paris agreement and the global necessary efforts to constraint temperature increases to below 1.5°C,” said Carlota Garcia-Manas, Head of Engagement, saying the decision reflected the £164 billion AUM asset manager’s net zero engagement strategy, upgraded as part of its commitments as a member of the UN Net Zero Asset Managers initiative. Garcia-Manas went on to note the Shell plan’s reliance on nature-based offsets and divestments, as well as its intention to conduct new oil and gas exploration, which deviates from the International Energy Agency’s Net Zero by 2050 pathway. “We will continue our engagement on those topics, as we would like to see more stringent short and medium-term targets that seek to reduce emissions in absolute terms and for all emission scopes, including Scope 3,” she said.
