Climate Action 100+ released the following statement in response to today’s U.S. House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust hearing. Ceres CEO and President Mindy Lubber, a founding member of the Climate Action 100+ global Steering Committee, testified before the Committee.
Investors who undertake investor stewardship on climate change are pursuing a common-sense approach driven by the pursuit of delivering the best long-term returns for their clients and beneficiaries. Therefore, it is regrettable that this topic, and Climate Action 100+, specifically, has been unduly politicized.
Climate Action 100+ investors act as independent fiduciaries, responsible for their individual investment and voting decisions.
Recent political discourse, including today’s U.S. House subcommittee hearing and a letter from 17 U.S. state attorney generals to US-based asset managers, has misunderstood and misrepresented elements of Climate Action 100+ – this includes the basics of what it is and its core activities.
Climate risk is a material financial risk. Institutional investors are well-served by acting on these risks and the resulting investment opportunities. If left unchecked, these risks threaten investors’ long-term ability to sustain value and generate ongoing returns for their beneficiaries.
The initiative maintains the support of hundreds of global investors. For example, in recent weeks forty-five asset owners reaffirmed their support for Climate Action 100+ and their continued engagement with companies, signaling to other investors that factoring all material risks and opportunities into decision-making aligns with investors’ fiduciary duty. Similarly, investors who publicly announced their departure from Climate Action 100+ have all stated that they remain committed to climate action.
As the world’s largest investor-led engagement initiative, Climate Action 100+ will be scrutinized and held to account. But any scrutiny must be fair, accurate, and based on facts.
Last year, the House Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena asking Ceres to produce documents related to Climate Action 100+. Since then, Ceres has delivered tens of thousands of documents to the Committee. Today’s hearing was an expected result of that process. You can view Mindy’s full oral and written testimony here.