Church of England calls for climate voting debate before miner BHP’s AGM
Resolution recommends the company put pressure on industry advocacy bodies whose work is inconsistent with Paris Agreement
09 October 2019 - 16:12
byBarbara Lewis
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People walk through the foyer of the BHP Billiton headquarters in Melbourne, Australia. Picture: BLOOMBERG
The Church of England Pensions Board urged shareholder advisers on Wednesday to support a resolution asking the world’s biggest listed miner BHP to leave groups that lobby for policies inconsistent with global climate change limitation goals.
The board, which manages the retirement funds of clergy and other staff, has joined some other BHP shareholders in the resolution for BHP’s London annual general meeting (AGM) next week to increase pressure over the issue and wants more shareholders to support it.
“Corporate funding of lobbying, fuelled with shareholder funds, is continuing at pace,” said Adam Matthews, head of the board’s ethics and engagement.
The resolution recommends “memberships of industry associations be suspended where their advocacy demonstrates overall inconsistency with the Paris Agreement’s goals”.
The international agreement in 2015 aims to restrict global warming and the resolution’s authors say lobbying for the use of coal is inconsistent with this.
BHP says it is committed to cutting emissions and promoting sustainable mining and backs the Paris Agreement. It said it is reviewing its membership of industry groups and has withdrawn from some of them but believes engagement with some of them helps to promote best practice.
The pensions board said proxy voting advisory firms ISS and Glass Lewis, who act for institutional investors, had not recommended its clients support the resolution and called for a meeting with them and the investors to discuss the issue.
“The decision by the proxy voting advisers ISS and Glass Lewis not to recommend support for the co-filed shareholder resolution raises serious questions about how investors can receive advice that enables them to meet their fiduciary duties to navigate the financial risks posed by climate change.”
Asked to comment, Aaron Bertinetti, Glass Lewis’s senior vice-president for research and engagement, said investors focusing only on an adviser’s approach to a proposal rather than “the extensive analysis, reasoning, expertise and engagement such advisers conduct” would raise concerns about their own fiduciary duties to those they represent.
ISS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In September BHP said its board would recommend shareholders oppose the resolution at its AGMs in London on October 17 and in Sydney on November 7.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Church of England calls for climate voting debate before miner BHP’s AGM
Resolution recommends the company put pressure on industry advocacy bodies whose work is inconsistent with Paris Agreement
The Church of England Pensions Board urged shareholder advisers on Wednesday to support a resolution asking the world’s biggest listed miner BHP to leave groups that lobby for policies inconsistent with global climate change limitation goals.
The board, which manages the retirement funds of clergy and other staff, has joined some other BHP shareholders in the resolution for BHP’s London annual general meeting (AGM) next week to increase pressure over the issue and wants more shareholders to support it.
“Corporate funding of lobbying, fuelled with shareholder funds, is continuing at pace,” said Adam Matthews, head of the board’s ethics and engagement.
The resolution recommends “memberships of industry associations be suspended where their advocacy demonstrates overall inconsistency with the Paris Agreement’s goals”.
The international agreement in 2015 aims to restrict global warming and the resolution’s authors say lobbying for the use of coal is inconsistent with this.
BHP says it is committed to cutting emissions and promoting sustainable mining and backs the Paris Agreement. It said it is reviewing its membership of industry groups and has withdrawn from some of them but believes engagement with some of them helps to promote best practice.
The pensions board said proxy voting advisory firms ISS and Glass Lewis, who act for institutional investors, had not recommended its clients support the resolution and called for a meeting with them and the investors to discuss the issue.
“The decision by the proxy voting advisers ISS and Glass Lewis not to recommend support for the co-filed shareholder resolution raises serious questions about how investors can receive advice that enables them to meet their fiduciary duties to navigate the financial risks posed by climate change.”
Asked to comment, Aaron Bertinetti, Glass Lewis’s senior vice-president for research and engagement, said investors focusing only on an adviser’s approach to a proposal rather than “the extensive analysis, reasoning, expertise and engagement such advisers conduct” would raise concerns about their own fiduciary duties to those they represent.
ISS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In September BHP said its board would recommend shareholders oppose the resolution at its AGMs in London on October 17 and in Sydney on November 7.
Reuters
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