Lægernes Pension has tightened its voting policy to ensure that the world’s largest banks and the largest CO2 emitters live up to the Paris Agreement. From and including 2024, the pension fund will only support board candidates in companies that meet concrete climate requirements. With this policy, Lægernes Pension wants to send a clear signal that companies must take their climate responsibility seriously and deal with climate risks.
The move is part of the strategy for active ownership , where Lægernes Pension participates and votes in companies’ general meetings.
Lægernes Pension’s new voting policy comes at a time when the climate agenda is taking up more and more of the general meetings around the world. The new policy, which was adopted with great support at the general meeting in 2023, aims to make the boards responsible for ensuring ambitious climate plans and green initiatives in the companies.
Lægernes Pension will vote against or abstain from voting for board candidates in companies that do not meet these requirements. The policy includes 165 of the world’s largest CO2 emitters and 26 banks, and covers a total of almost 200 companies.
The new requirements include nine specific parameters that companies must meet. These include, among other things, the formulation of CO2 reduction targets in the short and medium term, the integration of climate targets in business and investment plans, as well as linking the achievement of climate targets to the management’s remuneration.
For the banks, there are additional requirements to set targets for the emissions they finance through lending and investments, as well as to phase out lending to fossil energy sources and other sectors with large CO2 emissions.
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