BNP Paribas urges investors to pressure politicians on climate rules
Bank BNP Paribas has begun urging investors to press politicians to commit to the Paris Agreement with policy and make rules for net-zero targets.
Investors are failing to chase strong climate policies, global head of sustainability at BNP Paribas Asset Management, Jane Ambachtsheer, told Bloomberg.
Instead of chasing policies, however, investors should start chasing politicians to help identify policies that support business and communities to speed up the transition, the sustainability lead added.
“It’s increasingly well understood if we don’t implement the Paris Agreement, don’t tackle the biodiversity challenge and crisis, significant portions of GDP are at risk,” Ambachtsheer said. “We need a plan. We need to accelerate that plan.”
As the world’s eighth-largest bank by total assets, the move would help pressure fossil fuel heavyweights.
Global investors have been successful through collaborations like Climate Action 100+ in pressuring business giants like BHP, BP and Unilever to decarbonise their operations.
United Nations-backed Principles of Responsible Investment, which represents $103 trillion in assets under management, is the best forum for collaboration, Ambachtsheer suggested.
The investment group’s commitment said: “As institutional investors, we have a duty to act in the best long-term interests of our beneficiaries… we believe that environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) issues can affect the performance of investment portfolios.”
“It’s not enough to just be aware of what might happen, how might that unfold and how can we be best positioned,” Ambachtsheer said.
“Investors have not been coordinated in supporting policymakers with those difficult decisions and accelerating the change. If we’re going to achieve net-zero by 2050, we have to work harder on that.”