The world’s top 30 fund managers, collectively holding US$50 trillion in assets, get mixed marks on steering the global economy into alignment with the targets set in the Paris climate agreement, an annual report released yesterday said.
The assessment from London-based think tank InfluenceMap graded investment giants across three criteria: support for climate-related shareholder resolutions, the “greenness” of portfolios and engagement with the companies in those portfolios.
“Given the huge influence these asset managers have over the global economy, it is vital they take action to ensure the world can meet the climate goals of the Paris agreement,” InfluenceMap executive director Dylan Tanner said.
Photo: EPA-EFE/JUSTIN LANE
The 2015 climate treaty enjoins nations to cap global warming at below 2oC compared to preindustrial levels, and 1.5oC if possible. On current trends, the planet would heat up at least 3oC.
With 1.1oC of warming so far, the world has seen a crescendo of deadly extreme weather, including superstorms made more destructive by rising seas.
When it comes to public encouragement for companies to “green” their business models and lobbying practices, European asset managers continued to outperform their US counterparts, the report showed.
Among the top 10 companies, each with at least US$1.5 trillion under management, Legal & General Investment Management, Allianz Global Investors/PIMCO and Amundi SA all got top marks. Fidelity Investments Inc, Capital Group and Goldman Sachs Asset Management — all US-based — were at the bottom of the class.
BlackRock Inc, the world’s biggest asset manager with more than US$7 trillion under management, improved its grade last year after announcing steps to divest from coal.
However, the US-based giant got a failing mark when it came to supporting shareholder resolutions calling for more proactive climate policies.
Such shareholder initiatives have become an increasingly powerful driver of change in companies, as well as a signal to the broader market.
“More and more, we are seeing investors wanting to know that corporate lobbying and business models are aligned with Paris targets,” Tanner said.
Vanguard Group Inc, Capital Group and Fidelity Investments all scored even more poorly than BlackRock in this area.
Last year saw BlackRock and two other top 10 fund managers join the Climate Action 100+ investor initiative, a “promising development” that could speed up corporate transition toward carbon neutrality, InfluenceMap said.
A portfolio analysis of the world’s largest funds — looking at 3,000 firms with more than US$20 trillion in market capitalization — showed that they deviated strongly from the Paris temperature target, especially in certain sectors.
“The world’s automakers are not transitioning to electric vehicles at a fast enough pace, the coal production sector is winding down too slowly, and the power sector is not phasing out fossil fuel generation nor introducing renewables quickly enough,” Tanner said.
Sectors and companies that fail to accelerate the transition to low-carbon economies face a massive risk of stranded assets, he added.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday met with some of the nation’s largest insurance companies as a skyrocketing New Taiwan dollar piles pressure on their hundreds of billions of dollars in US bond investments. The commission has asked some life insurance firms, among the biggest Asian holders of US debt, to discuss how the rapidly strengthening NT dollar has impacted their operations, people familiar with the matter said. The meeting took place as the NT dollar jumped as much as 5 percent yesterday, its biggest intraday gain in more than three decades. The local currency surged as exporters rushed to
RSS