Legal & General Investment Management steps up pressure on companies to address climate change

Since 2018, public concern about the danger of climate change has risen to an even higher level, with alarming scientific evidence that reinforces the urgency of the issue. Introduced in 2016, the Climate Impact Pledge is LGIM’s commitment to engage with the largest companies across six sectors identified as key to meeting global climate change goals: oil and gas, mining, electric utilities, autos, food retail and financials. Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) has released its second annual ranking of climate change ‘leaders and laggards’, following engagement under its Climate Impact Pledge.

This year’s results reveal improvements in the average scores of all six sectors, with sectors under most public scrutiny, such as oil and gas, utilities and autos, making great strides in disclosures and targets. The increase in average scores has also been seen across all the main regions analysed, including in the US, UK, Europe and Asia Pacific.

LGIM’s research also uncovered a significant divergence between the leaders and laggards within the same sectors, as well as signs of stagnation within sectors such as financials and food retailers. The divergence within the US is particularly stark as companies face a dichotomy between the federal stance on the Paris Agreement and other global, state-level and local initiatives to address climate issues.