Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), one of the world’s largest asset managers, has ditched investing in two of China’s top transport companies – COSCO Shipping Holdings and Air China – for their failure to meet certain standards on climate.
The UK investment giant has recently released details of its seventh climate impact pledge, its annual engagement programme to encourage companies to tackle climate change and the transition to net-zero carbon emissions, in which COSCO and Air China were publicly called out for their green failures.
Michelle Scrimgeour, the CEO at Legal & General Investment Management, said: “As a responsible investor, it is incumbent upon us to signal clearly to investee companies the actions we expect them to take to drive up market standards.”
Michael Marks, head of investment stewardship at Legal & General Investment Management, commented: “As the window for achieving a 1.5C outcome by 2050 narrows, the need for greater action by companies has become increasingly urgent. Companies which are too slow to act are contributing to systemic risk. It is imperative that investors play their part, by expanding and deepening the scope of their climate engagement, and encouraging companies to scale up their ambitions and reduce real world emissions.”
Dual-listed COSCO Shipping Holdings is the flagship of state-controlled COSCO, the world’s largest shipping company.
