In financial markets around the world, climate change is increasingly recognised as a mainstream investment issue with serious potential implications for financial risk and return. As a result, there has been a dramatic rise in shareholder activism focused on fossil fuel companies. This activism has mostly sought to get companies to disclose information showing how they are preparing to manage the risks posed to their businesses and to shareholder capital by the transition to a low-carbon economy. In 2015 (the latest year of available data), SA ranked 14th globally for CO² emissions. Excluding Eskom, some of the biggest contributors to these emissions are companies listed on the JSE. The biggest is Sasol. In 2017, Sasol’s greenhouse gas emissions were 67.6-million tonnes (Mt). To illustrate the magnitude of this figure, consider that the total greenhouse gas emissions for 2014 (the latest estimates available) for the entire country of Portugal were 63.3Mt, for New Zealand 60.3Mt, Ir...
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