UK’s Biggest Fund Manager Expands Assets Blacklist Due to Climate Concerns

Legal & General Investment Management is expanding the universe of assets it blacklists due to climate concerns, as it warns portfolio companies that time is running out to clean up their acts.

LGIM, the UK’s biggest fund manager with $1.5 trillion in client assets, says its exclusion list now applies to funds with almost £158 billion ($200 billion), in a statement on Thursday. Its latest divestments were from Air China Ltd. and Cosco Shipping Holdings Co., it said.

The decision comes as efforts to rein in global warming fall well short of critical thresholds identified by scientists. The window to limit temperature rises to 1.5C is “rapidly” narrowing, LGIM said, underpinning the need to revise existing investment policies and eliminate assets that are causing unacceptable levels of environmental damage.

“The transition isn’t happening fast enough,” Stephen Beer, senior manager for sustainability and responsible investment at LGIM, said in an interview. As a result, the asset manager is now “engaging in some very real-world conversations” with portfolio companies to figure out which emissions strategies aren’t good enough, he said.

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/uk-s-biggest-fund-manager-expands-assets-blacklist-due-to-climate-concerns-1.1933290