A coalition of asset owners has outlined the "clear and consistent" expectations of asset managers when it comes to climate stewardship.
The “Asset Owner Statement on Climate Stewardship” statement was led by the £31 billion ($38 billion) People’s Pension, Crawley, England, the £30.8 billion Brunel Pension Partnership, Bristol, England, and the £200 billion assets under administration Scottish Widows, Edinburgh.
The statement aims to promote constructive dialogue on climate stewardship and improve efficiencies within the stewardship chain.
The statement also urged that industry and public policy engagement should be core to the climate stewardship proposition across asset classes, and that asset managers should prioritize collaborative initiatives to achieve greater impact in engagement activities. Furthermore, the statement says that for asset managers, a systematic approach to voting “is imperative,” and that a stewardship function needs to be appropriately resourced.
“Our collective statement from asset owners responds directly to feedback from our managers to hear from asset owners jointly on climate stewardship expectations and represents an important signal to the market," said Vaishnavi Ravishankar, head of stewardship at Brunel Pension Partnership, in a news release. "The statement signposts what we, as representatives of our beneficiaries’ long-term interests, consider important for fund managers to demonstrate.”
A signatory to the statement is the £17.6 billion Shell Contributory Pension Fund, London. Its sponsor company is oil and gas giant Shell, which in 2023 was subject to a lawsuit claiming directors breached legal duties by failing to manage climate risk. Pension funds backing this lawsuit include the £49 billion National Employment Savings Trust, London, which is also a backer of the asset owner statement.
Other signatories to the asset owner statement include the £38.3 billion Border to Coast Pensions Partnership, Leeds, England, the Swiss francs 14 billion ($15.4 billion) Pensionskasse Basel-Stadt, Basel, Switzerland, and the £32.5 billion Pension Protection Fund, London.
