Lankelly Chase is one of 11 institutional investors and more than 100 individual shareholders who have asked Barclays to phase out its financing of fossil fuel companies that are driving the climate crisis. The first ever climate-related shareholder resolution at a European bank was coordinated by ShareAction, the responsible investment charity.
Lankelly Chase CEO, Julian Corner, who guest edited the March 2019 issue of Alliance magazine on Systems Change said: ‘Time is running out to prevent global heating of 1.5c above pre-industrial levels, with catastrophic consequences, and it is now imperative that financing for fossil fuels must stop. We therefore urge the Barclays Board and our fellow shareholders to support this resolution at the AGM. Unless Barclays can demonstrate alignment with the Paris Agreement, it can no longer have a place in the portfolios of any responsible investor.’
The resolution also asks Barclays to consider the social dimension of the transition to a resilient and low-carbon economy. The resolution will be voted on by Barclays’s investors at its Annual General Meeting in May 2020 and will be the first in a series of actions in 2020, which will put financial services to the test on climate change in the run up to the UK-hosted COP26 climate talks.
Annette Lanjouw, Chief Executive Officer of the Arcus Foundation, says: ‘The climate crisis is an existential threat to all people, non-human animals and habitats – to life as we know it. Financial institutions and investors have the power to mitigate this threat in an impactful way with more conscious, disciplined investing as specified in this resolution. Our hope is that Barclay’s bank will set an example that others will follow and build momentum toward a reversal of the unnecessary and life-threatening decline in the world’s biodiversity.’
For more on the resolution visit:
Comments (0)