Global investors including JPMorgan and Fidelity will demand that five of Asia’s most polluting power generation companies cut their greenhouse gas emissions as part of a new climate change engagement programme.
The group of investors, which has combined assets of $8.8tn, will target utilities in mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan and Malaysia that operate large coal-fired operations. Together these power companies produced roughly 285m tonnes of CO2 in 2019, equivalent to the national emissions of Spain, according to the programme’s backers. Other investors include the asset management arms of Europe’s BNP Paribas and Amundi, as well as Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui.
It marks the latest push by global investors to force significant polluters to reform their businesses and act on climate change issues.