The Commonwealth Bank of Australia – one of the country’s Big Four banks – will be pressured to disclose the risks to its lending and investment portfolios from climate change.
It will be the first time that a major bank outside the US has been pressured by shareholders and community leaders, and represents a growing activism on climate and clean energy that is seeking to hold financiers to account.
Earlier this year, an international coalition of shareholders and community leaders targeted Bank of America for its financing of the coal industry at the bank’s AGM. A proposed resolution requesting the bank to report carbon emissions stemming from financing of carbon-intensive industries was considered.
The proposed resolution requests that Bank of America provide an assessment and report on its financing of GHG emissions. It was introduced by members of the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) and endorsed by a coalition of institutional investors with nearly $35 billion in managed assets.
The motion to CBA is being supported by the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility and a group of CBA shareholders supported by the Asset Owners Disclosure Project (AODP) and 350.org.
A resolution will be presented at its upcoming AGM filed by the ACCR and CBA shareholders. It will be the first resolution to focus on climate change and disclosure since Woodside Petroleum resolution in 2011.
AODP Chair Dr John Hewson, the former leader of the Liberal Party, and now a high level activist for action on climate change, said it was a key opportunity for CBA to prove to its shareholders and its Colonial First State superannuation members that it is actively managing climate risk.
“CBA must show these stakeholders that the bank’s assets will be protected once rapid climate action accelerates,” he said in a statement “This is also a test for the entire Superannuation industry which has a chance to support the resolution or be accused of hypocrisy over disclosure requests.”
ACCR Executive Director Ms Caroline Le Couteur said:
“CBA is the largest bank in Australia and is greatly exposed to climate risks through its investments and commercial lending activities. Shareholders in the banks along with Australia’s over 11.5 million superannuation members have a right to know what the risks are and how CBA intends to manage them.”
” Management of the risk begins with disclosure so investors and super members can see the scale of the problem. Under any reasonable climate scenario it is likely that there are risks that haven’t been mitigated and now is the time for CBA to take control.
“We have every confidence that CBA and its shareholders will see the need to disclose and show that the risks are adequately mitigated or that a plan to address them is in place.”
