Press releases

Nearly 800 organisations join Legal & General in supporting Climate-related Financial Disclosure

Nearly 800 organisations have now expressed support for the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and its recommendations. Yesterday, the (TCFD) published its 2019 Status Report to the Financial Stability Board (FSB). This is the second report provided by the TCFD - providing an overview of disclosure practices aligned with the Task Force’s recommendations. At the time of publication, nearly 800 organisations have expressed their support, an increase of more than 50% from last year.

6 Jun 2019


Full press release (PDF 267KB)

TCFD 2019 Status Report

Legal & General Investment Management’s (LGIM’s) CEO, Mark Zinkula was one of the first signatories to the TCFD, recognising the importance of highlighting the impact of climate-related issues in the financial services world. The Task Force recognises the importance of the Paris Agreement to limit the global average temperature rise to well below 2°C of pre-industrial levels, an objective we fully support.

We have made taking action on climate change one of Legal & General’s four main strategic focuses for our corporate and social responsibility activities. Our key activities include:

  • Investing in renewable energy such as onshore windfarms, solar energy sources and digital software solutions for the energy grid
  • Setting emission reduction targets on our own investment assets to align with the Paris objective
  • Ensuring that our real assets and property businesses develop low-carbon, energy-efficient homes
  • Engaging with companies, through LGIM’s Active Ownership, Corporate Governance team to influence boards to adopt low-carbon policies
  • Developing our Future World investment funds, which aim to encourage investments into environmentally sustainable businesses, removing companies with poor environmental standards from the funds’ investments
  • Ensuring that we decarbonise the assets on our balance sheet, by excluding thermal coal investments.

At the end of May 2019, Nigel Wilson, CEO of Legal & General Group wrote to the prime minister asking for immediate action to be taken, to put in legislation the Committee on Climate Change’s recommendation for a UK 2050 net-zero greenhouse gas emissions target.

Activities of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures

The Task Force also conducted a survey on companies’ efforts to implement the recommendations. 90% of those surveyed saw 198 respondents having decided to “fully” or “partially” implement the TCFD recommendations, with 67% stating their companies plan to complete implementation within three years.

Over 1,000 large companies across multiple sectors in nearly 150 countries found that the average number of recommended disclosures per company has increased by 29% from 2.8 in 2016 to 3.6 in 2018. At the same time, the percentage of companies that disclosed information aligned with at least one of the Task Force’s recommendations grew from 70% in 2016 to 78% in 2018.

The Task Force also conducted a survey on companies’ efforts to implement the recommendations. 90% of those surveyed saw 198 respondents having decided to “fully” or “partially” implement the TCFD recommendations, with 67% stating their companies plan to complete implementation within three years.

Martin Brookes, Director of Investment Strategy. Email: Martin.Brookes@group.landg.com

John Godfrey Corporate Affairs Director +44 (0)20 3124 2090