On 16 September 2021, after collecting international best practices in the fight against deforestation, SfC Swiss member Ethos has published an Engagement Paper to initially engage seven multinational companies particularly exposed to deforestation risks. “We want to encourage companies to implement concrete and targeted measures to stop the destruction of forests”, says Matthias Narr, Head[…]
Five questions to Tommy Piemonte, head of sustainability research at Bank für Kirche und Caritas (BKC), founding member of SfC Tommy, in 2020, for the first time your bank has decided to engage with a State, Namibia. Why? Namibia is one of the 14 UN member states that have not yet joined or ratified[…]
SfC members are satisfied with companies’ responses. But structural problems will have to be addressed soon. The energy transition cannot happen without rare metals and rare earths. However, they are often extracted in countries at high risk of environmental and human rights violations, such as China or the Democratic Republic of Congo, as evidenced[…]
In May 2020, a group of European institutional investors and NGOs, led by SfC – Shareholders for Change’s founding members Bank für Kirche und Caritas (BKC) and Fondazione Finanza Etica, sent a letter to the Norwegian pension fund (GPFG or Government Pension Fund Global). They called on the Fund to reconsider its investment in the German defence group Rheinmetall, involved[…]
Five questions to Colin Baines, Friends Provident Foundation Colin, what does “Just Transition” mean? Our programme of engagement with the energy utilities sector is calling for formal Just Transition strategies to accompany net zero targets and transition plans. A ‘Just Transition’ ensures that social issues are taken into account in moving to a low[…]
We asked this question to the SfC members who have been involved in the project during the AGM Season 2021. Mauro Meggiolaro, Fondazione Finanza Etica “We evaluated the decarbonisation plans of Eni, Shell and Total. All three are still vague and concentrate most decarbonisation efforts after 2030. How can the majority of shareholders be[…]
Between April and May 2021, SfC’s members Ethos Foundation, Meeschaert Asset Management and Fondazione Finanza Etica engaged a total of six companies on their respective decarbonisation plans as part of the ‘Say on Climate’ initiative. The basic idea of the ‘Say on Climate’ concept is for companies to put their climate transition plans to an advisory shareholder vote. A climate[…]
SfC engagement will now escalate to AGM «We strictly adhere to the principles, guidelines and policies of the German government for any kind of production or export [of weapons].». This was the answer of the German corporation ThyssenKrupp to the questions of a number of investors, led by SfC – Shareholders for Change, asking[…]
Three questions to Aurélie Baudhuin, president of SfC-Shareholders for Change On 23 February, Shareholders for Change has co-signed a global investor statement in support of an effective, fair and equitable global response to Covid-19, including through fully financing the “ACT Accelerator partnership”, launched by WHO and partners. The about 150 institutional investors who signed[…]
Institutional investors have a fiduciary duty to take climate risks into account when constructing and managing their portfolios. They therefore expect climate change to be an integral part of the governance and strategy of the companies in which they are invested. It is in this respect that some shareholders now demand that companies prepare[…]