PRESS RELEASE
Investors with 4 trillion euro in assets under management join Follow This to urge Paris-aligned emissions targets
Twenty-seven major investors, including Europe’s largest investor Amundi, escalate pressure on Shell to take climate action. The shareholders, who manage more than 3.9 trillion euro in assets, have co-filed a climate resolution with green shareholder group Follow This. The shareholder resolution requests the oil major to align its medium-term emissions reduction targets with the Paris Climate Agreement.
“This extraordinary step shows how dedicated these investors are to tackling the climate crisis at its source,” says Mark van Baal, founder of Follow This. “This escalation of 27 leading investors puts the call for emissions reductions by energy companies front and center for all institutional investors.”
Quotes by co-filers
Matt Crossman, Stewardship Director at Rathbones Group says: “With 2023 being the warmest year on record, and COP28 signaling ‘the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era’ we are more aware than ever that climate change will create winners and losers. We hope to create incentives for senior management to align business strategies with Net Zero scenarios that will help the world thrive.”
Diandra Soobiah, Head of Responsible Investment at NEST: “We urge Shell to set a credible scope 3 absolute emissions target. This would demonstrate leadership, show Shell is serious about transitioning its business, and play a role in generating real-world change.” AP4: “We are realizing the need for fossil fuel in the short-term horizon and we support the idea of integrated energy companies transitioning their business models.”
Pension Protection Fund: “By co-filing the Follow This resolution, we want to send a clear message to the Shell board on the importance of setting and achieving Paris-aligned reduction targets. Shell has a real opportunity to drive meaningful change in society, and we want to work together to help reduce the overall global emissions by almost half this decade.”
Shareholders hold the key
“We expect votes to increase as more investors follow their leading peers by voting for change at Shell, which is the bare minimum they can do,” says Van Baal. In 2023, 20% of shareholders voted in favor of the Follow This climate resolution.“Large shareholders hold the key to tackling the climate crisis with their votes at shareholders’ meetings. Shell will only change if more shareholders vote for change. The resolution is designed to give Shell a shareholder mandate to drive the energy transition.”
Changes in text climate resolution
Following consultation with large investors, the climate resolution was revised. The essence, Paris-aligned emissions reduction targets, remains.
The key differences with 2023:
- ‘2030 target’ was replaced by ‘medium-term targets’ and
- the supporting statement was completely rewritten to reflect investor requests for a more agnostic text that is solely focused on emissions.
Co-filing investors
The group of 27 co-filing investors from Belgium, France, the Netherlands, the UK, the USA, Sweden, and Switzerland consists of (Assets Under Management (AUM) between brackets)
- Amundi (€1,973 billion)
- Scottish Widows (€200 billion)
- Candriam (€140 billion)
- Rathbones Group (€100 billion)
- Groupama AM (€95 billion)
- Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management (EDRAM) (€71 billion)
- Degroof Petercam Asset Management (DPAM) (€51 billion)
- Brunel Pension Partnership (€44 billion)
- AP3 (€44 billion)
- AP4 (€43 billion)
- NEST (€40 billion)
- Pension Protection Fund (€38 billion)
- Greater Manchester Pension Fund (€37 billion)
- London CIV (€16 billion)
- Pro BTP Finance (€13 billion)
- Mandarine Gestion (€4 billion)
- Ethos Foundation (€4 billion assets under advice)
- Emmi-Vorsargestiftung (€1 billion)
- Ethos Foundation also represents five of its pension fund members.
- Four more investors may make public announcements later.
Why Shell?
Most investors preferred filing a climate resolution at Shell; in 2023, Shell did not improve its climate targets and the new CEO appeared to be reversing course on climate action.
Text Shareholder resolution
Shareholders support the company, by an advisory vote, to align its medium-term emissions reduction targets covering the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the use of its energy products (Scope 3) with the goal of the Paris Climate Agreement: to limit global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C.
The strategy for achieving these targets is entirely up to the board.
You have our support.
