Investors line up against Mizuho support for coal
Investors line up against Mizuho support for coal
Innkommet 03.04.2020 14:02
By Aaron Sheldrick
TOKYO, April 3 (Reuters) - Investors with nearly $200
billion in assets holding shares in Japan's Mizuho Financial
Group say they plan to back a shareholder motion urging
the bank to cut its lending for coal and other fossil fuels,
they told Reuters on Friday.
In an unusual showing of hands weeks before Mizuho's annual
general meeting in June, Norway's largest pension fund and life
insurance company, Kommunal Landspensjonskasse (KLP), Storebrand
ASA and Denmark's MP Pension said they would support
Japan's first climate change resolution.
It marks the first time a Japanese publicly traded company
has faced a shareholder climate change resolution.
While they represent only a fraction of shareholding rights
their support for the resolution brought by Kiko Network, an
activist group and shareholder in the bank, the investors'
support adds to the pressure on the bank, which has already
tightened its lending policies but critics say more is needed.
"As we await new strict coal and fossil fuel policies from
Mizuho, we will without a doubt support the new climate
change-based shareholder resolution ... at this year's annual
general meeting," said Jeanett Bergan, head of Responsible
Investment at KLP, which has more than $80 billion of assets
under management.
The resolution sent to Mizuho management last month calls on
the bank to outline a plan and set targets so that its business
practices are more in line with the Paris Agreement, the global
pact to fight climate change.
Similar shareholder resolutions have succeeded in getting
banks to stop financing coal and other fossil fuels.
Policymakers and regulators are also pressuring financial firms
to do more to accelerate the move to a low-carbon economy.
KLP is urging other shareholders to support the resolution
"as we need COVID-19 crisis-style global urgency to address the
climate crisis which is in plain sight," Bergan said.
At Storebrand, which has about $80 billion under management,
sustainable investment analyst Andreas Bjorbak Alnas said the
fund manager will support the resolution.
MP Pension, which manages $18 billion and divested from
major oil companies in September, is also backing the
resolution, said Chief Investment Officer Anders Schelde.
Kiko Network and other non-profit organisations describe
Mizuho as the world's biggest lender to coal power plant
developers. Mizuho earlier declined to comment on its lending to
coal companies and confirmed it had received the resolution.
Japan is the only major industrialised economy that is
expanding use of coal, hit by the Fukushima nuclear disaster in
2011 which led to the shutdown of most of the country's reactors
that once supplied about a third of the electricity in the
world's third-biggest economy.
(Reporting by Aaron Sheldrick; editing by David Evans)
((aaron.sheldrick@thomsonreuters.com; 81-3-4563-2773;))
© Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions
Innkommet 03.04.2020 14:02
By Aaron Sheldrick
TOKYO, April 3 (Reuters) - Investors with nearly $200
billion in assets holding shares in Japan's Mizuho Financial
Group say they plan to back a shareholder motion urging
the bank to cut its lending for coal and other fossil fuels,
they told Reuters on Friday.
In an unusual showing of hands weeks before Mizuho's annual
general meeting in June, Norway's largest pension fund and life
insurance company, Kommunal Landspensjonskasse (KLP), Storebrand
ASA and Denmark's MP Pension said they would support
Japan's first climate change resolution.
It marks the first time a Japanese publicly traded company
has faced a shareholder climate change resolution.
While they represent only a fraction of shareholding rights
their support for the resolution brought by Kiko Network, an
activist group and shareholder in the bank, the investors'
support adds to the pressure on the bank, which has already
tightened its lending policies but critics say more is needed.
"As we await new strict coal and fossil fuel policies from
Mizuho, we will without a doubt support the new climate
change-based shareholder resolution ... at this year's annual
general meeting," said Jeanett Bergan, head of Responsible
Investment at KLP, which has more than $80 billion of assets
under management.
The resolution sent to Mizuho management last month calls on
the bank to outline a plan and set targets so that its business
practices are more in line with the Paris Agreement, the global
pact to fight climate change.
Similar shareholder resolutions have succeeded in getting
banks to stop financing coal and other fossil fuels.
Policymakers and regulators are also pressuring financial firms
to do more to accelerate the move to a low-carbon economy.
KLP is urging other shareholders to support the resolution
"as we need COVID-19 crisis-style global urgency to address the
climate crisis which is in plain sight," Bergan said.
At Storebrand, which has about $80 billion under management,
sustainable investment analyst Andreas Bjorbak Alnas said the
fund manager will support the resolution.
MP Pension, which manages $18 billion and divested from
major oil companies in September, is also backing the
resolution, said Chief Investment Officer Anders Schelde.
Kiko Network and other non-profit organisations describe
Mizuho as the world's biggest lender to coal power plant
developers. Mizuho earlier declined to comment on its lending to
coal companies and confirmed it had received the resolution.
Japan is the only major industrialised economy that is
expanding use of coal, hit by the Fukushima nuclear disaster in
2011 which led to the shutdown of most of the country's reactors
that once supplied about a third of the electricity in the
world's third-biggest economy.
(Reporting by Aaron Sheldrick; editing by David Evans)
((aaron.sheldrick@thomsonreuters.com; 81-3-4563-2773;))
© Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions
Redigert 20.01.2021 kl 08:29
Du må logge inn for å svare