STEPPING UP CLIMATE ACTION

Oslo : more than 200 institutional investors with US$ 16 trillion in assets under management said yesterday they would step up pressure on the world's biggest corporate greenhouse gas emitters to combat climate change.

Two years to the day since 195 governments adopted the Paris climate agreement, investors including Pacific Investment.

Management Co, Amundi Legal & General Investment Management, Northern Trust and Aegon said they aimed to work with the 100 biggest polluting companies to curb emissions under a five-year plan.

That, they said, would be more effective than threatening to pull the plug on their investments in such companies, which include Coal India, Gazprom, Exxon Mobil and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp.

''We will be asking companies to curb emissions and bring them down in line with the Paris goals,'' said Anne Simpson, investment director of sustainability at the California Public Employees Retirement System.

That would mean roughly an 80% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, she told reporters on a teleconference, beyond the ambition of most companies.

The investors said they were also calling on companies to improve disclosure of  greenhouse gas emissions, including those from the use of their products, and to step up governance climate risks and opportunities.

Under the investors plans, divestment would only be a last resort. If big emitters refuse to cooperate with them, shareholders could ratchet up pressure with public statements, resolutions and votes.

Such measures can work, they said.

In May, for instance, 62% of shareholders in Exxon Mobil voted for greater transparency about climate risks of oil and gas despite opposition from the board.