Legal & General targets climate change laggards

Legal and General Investment Management (LGIM) has said it will take action against companies that are not addressing the risks of climate change.

LGIM, one of the biggest investment funds in Europe, said it would exclude offending firms from its Future World index fund.

Where those firms featured in its other equity funds, it would vote against re-electing the chairs of their boards.

China Construction Bank and Russia’s Rosneft were among the worst, it said.

“China Construction Bank remains the world’s largest funder of coal mining and plants,” LGIM said.

“While the company has increased its lending to green projects, it does not disclose the total [greenhouse gas] emissions associated with its business.”

Rosneft, the Russian oil giant, was branded a laggard for producing a 144-page sustainability report that did not mention “climate change” once.

“This provides little reassurance that the company is planning for a world that must use less of its main product,” LGIM said.

LGIM’s Future World range of investments also includes the first fund aimed at encouraging gender diversity among UK firms, the Gender in Leadership UK Index Fund (GIRL), which was launched last month.

Among the firms that LGIM considers leaders on climate change is Nestle, which has set targets to reduce greenhouse gases by 2020 in line with the Paris Agreement.

The food giant discloses those targets and how it is performing against them.