AkademikerPension, Brunel among investors calling for banks to step up on climate transition

Asset owners will be asking banks to increase their climate ambitions at their annual general meetings (AGMs) this week.

More than 30 investors, including AkademikerPension, P+, Folksam and Brunel Pension Partnership have signed a statement that will be read at Barclays’ AGM today.

It asks the bank to set a target for financing the renewable energy sector.

On Thursday, 21 investors will call on Standard Chartered to publish a plan on how it will finance more renewable power in markets in the Global South.

Signatories to that statement include Border to Coast Pension Partnership, Greater Manchester Pension Fund, Merseyside Pension Fund and Ircantec.

“Banks have taken positive steps forward in setting broad targets around sustainable finance,” explained Kelly Shields, a campaign manager at ShareAction, the NGO coordinating the statements.

“However, they are not yet providing a clear strategy on how they will specifically finance the sectors and technologies most needed for the clean energy transition and limiting the harshest effects of global heating.”

Last week, ShareAction issued a statement on behalf of 30 of HSBC’s shareholders calling for the banking giant to restate its commitment to net zero, after it said in February that it planned to reassess its climate targets and policies, and removed its chief sustainability officer from its executive committee.

The sentiment does not appear to have significantly influenced voting results at HSBC, which saw support for its directors increase this year compared with 2024.

While asset owners have continued to publicly support ShareAction’s campaigns, a number of asset managers appear to have stepped back this year, amid a clampdown on sustainable finance in the US and Europe.

Royal London Asset Management and Candriam, for example, signed a similar statement at HSBC last year, organised by ShareAction; but both are absent from the list of supporters in 2025.

Likewise, Credit Mutuel Asset Management backed all of ShareAction’s statements in 2024, but is listed on none this year.

Man Group and Amundi, which have both co-filed resolutions at banks with ShareAction in previous years, are also missing from the 2025 statements.

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