It’s Tuesday, February 4, and the Church of England is investing money in companies working to slash their carbon emissions.
Who would have guessed that 2020 would be the year that major asset managers and pension funds shift their investment strategy because of climate change? Two weeks after the world’s biggest money manager, BlackRock, announced that it is dropping some coal investments, a holier institutional investor has also found a way to cut the carbon footprint of its investments.
The latest news comes from the Church of England, which announced plans to invest $780 million (£600 million) in a new stock exchange index designed to reward companies that are working to cut their greenhouse gas emissions in line with Paris Agreement targets. The Church of England Pensions Board, which manages $3.7 billion total, launched the index last week on the London Stock Exchange, where other institutional investors can invest in it.
Oil producers such as ExxonMobil, Chevron, and BP are currently excluded from the index due to their lackluster climate goals. But the index does include Royal Dutch Shell and Repsol — Spain’s largest oil company, which made a net-zero pledge in December. Adam Matthews, the church fund’s director of ethics and engagement, said that excluded companies could still make their way into the index once they set appropriate targets.
“The message is clear,” Matthews said in a statement. “Put in place targets and strategies aligned to Paris and be rewarded with inclusion in the index, or work against the long-term interests of beneficiaries and wider society, and be excluded.”
The Smog
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