Climate Impact Pledge: Tackling the climate emergency

The second annual results of our Climate Impact Pledge showcase the corporate leaders and laggards on climate action; we are encouraged by improvements across sectors but will continue to press companies to meet this era-defining challenge.

Public concern about the danger posed by climate change has reached unprecedented levels. More than a million students have walked out of classes worldwide, while protests have been held across dozens of countries, to call for swift action from governments1.

This is no fad. The world is truly in the midst of a climate emergency, which could have drastic consequences for markets, companies and, therefore, our clients’ assets.

With the UN warning that there is little over a decade in which global emissions must start to decline significantly, the window for action is closing fast. That is why we have ratcheted up the pressure on companies globally, demanding to know how they will hasten the transition to a low-carbon economy.

We have done so as part of our Climate Impact Pledge, under which we assess and score over 80 of the world’s largest companies, engaging with them to improve their strategies to address this era-defining challenge. And to underscore our seriousness, we divest within our Future World fund from those companies that fail to demonstrate sufficient action and vote against the re-election of their board chairs across all funds where we hold voting rights.

In our second annual review of the process, we report encouraging signs of progress, even though a vast amount of work remains to be done.