Border to Coast Pensions Partnership, Leeds, England, is turning its focus to the oil, gas and banking sectors in 2023, and it is planning to vote against chairmen and chairwomen of portfolio companies that do not have sufficient net-zero strategies.
Oil companies and banks must make greater progress on climate pledges or risk losing the support of Border to Coast on key votes during this annual general meeting season, the pension fund warned Thursday in a news release.
The pool, which is responsible for £38.3 billion ($46.2 billion) in assets for 11 local government pension schemes, said it will vote against the chairmen and chairwomen of oil companies in 2023 that fail to implement short-, medium- and long-term emission-reduction targets.
It will also vote against oil companies that have not yet developed climate risks and opportunities policies or integrated them into business strategy and capital expenditure decisions.
Border to Coast said it will also vote against the chairmen and chairwomen of sustainability committees at banks that have not sufficiently integrated targets, decarbonization strategy, or climate policy engagement into their business strategy.
Jane Firth, head of responsible investment at Border to Coast, said in the news release: "Oil and gas companies are amongst the highest carbon emitters in our portfolios and must do more to address the systemic risk climate change poses."
Colin Baines, stewardship manager at Border to Coast, said in the release: "We welcome the adoption of net-zero targets by oil and gas companies, but we must now see transition plans that have a realistic prospect of delivering that objective."
Mr. Baines said the pool wants companies' capital expenditure aligned with global net-zero ambitions and development of new fossil fuel reserves.
