A bid by European asset owners to have Volkswagen AG disclose how its lobbying activities intersect with addressing climate risk was rejected by the automaker, the shareholders said in a news release April 8.
Shareholders — including the $3.7 billion Church of England Pensions Board, London; the 722.5 billion Swedish kronor ($76.5 billion) Swedish pension fund AP7, Stockholm; Schroder Investment Management; and 128 billion Danish kroner ($18.7 billion) AkademikerPension, Gentofte, Denmark — filed the resolution for consideration at VW's May 12 annual meeting.
It was rejected by the company on the grounds that its management board "alone is responsible for deciding on the content of the non-financial report in accordance with the interests of the company," the shareholder news release said.
"It speaks volumes that they have rejected the amendment on the basis of saying the board knows best, yet the board is still failing to deliver transparent oversight of the company's climate lobbying," said Charlotta Dawidowski Sydstrand, AP7 sustainability strategist, in the shareholder release.
AP7 and the Church of England Pensions Board first began engaging with Volkswagen in late 2018 about climate lobbying, an issue that is gaining traction with investors.
In March, investors with a collective $130 trillion in assets launched the Global Standard on Responsible Climate Lobbying initiative to promote a global standard for companies to disclose climate-related lobbying activity. The goal is to learn whether companies are delaying, diluting or blocking climate action, and to hear about climate-positive activity.
Clare Richards, senior engagement manager at the Church of England Pensions Board, said that in contrast to peers BMW and Mercedes-Benz, which have publicly committed to review their climate lobbying positions as part of annual disclosures, "it's all the more disappointing that VW has chosen to trail behind its peers. … VW says it wants to play a leading role in a world of zero-emission and autonomous mobility, but then it fails to make, let alone deliver, on a public commitment to greater transparency on how it supports ambitious climate policies. This calls into question the sincerity of the company's intentions as well as the board's leadership in overseeing company management," Ms. Richards said in the shareholder release.
Mark Lacey, head of global resource equities and fund manager, and Carol Storey, active ownership manager for Schroder Investment Management, said the rejection was disappointing from a company leading on some areas of the low-carbon transition. "Volkswagen has significantly improved its leadership capability in so many areas" in recent years, and they should show leadership on this issue, they said in the release.
A call to VW was not immediately returned.
