Climate Action 100+

Launched in December 2017 at the One Planet Summit, with 225 investors with $26 trillion in assets under management, Climate Action 100+ is now backed by more than 545 investors with more than $52 trillion in assets under management, including 145 North American investors. 

Ceres is one of the founding investor networks of this initiative, working with California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), also a founding member, and other members of the Ceres Investor Network to engage directly with the North American focus companies. There are a total of 167 companies on the initiative’s focus list and 54 of those companies are based in North America.

The aim of these engagements is to get companies to:

1. Implement a strong governance framework which clearly articulates the board’s accountability and oversight of climate change risk;

2. Take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the value chain, consistent with the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global average temperature increase to well below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, aiming for 1.5 degrees. Notably, this implies the need to move towards net-zero emissions by 2050 or sooner; and

3. Provide enhanced corporate disclosure in line with the final recommendations of the Task Force on Climate‑related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and sector-specific Global Investor Coalition on Climate Change (GIC) Investor Expectations on Climate Change guidelines (when applicable), to enable investors to assess the robustness of companies’ business plans against a range of climate scenarios, including well below two degrees and improve investment decision-making.

Climate Action 100+ issued its first-ever Net-Zero Company Benchmark in March 2021 to assess the performance of focus companies against these three high-level goals and to help investor signatories evaluate company ambition and action in tackling climate change.

The initiative’s latest progress report was released in December 2020 and details sector-level progress across the focus companies that are engaged by investors through Climate Action 100+. It shows that almost half the focus companies have now established commitments to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 or sooner.

“We are in the foothills of a long climb. Tackling the world’s systemically important carbon emitters is ambitious and necessary. It requires partnership from all sides: investors, companies, policymakers, and civil society. The results from Climate Action 100+ show what can be achieved, and what still lies ahead, for us to drive the transition to net zero by 2050,” said Anne Simpson, CalPERS Managing Investment Director, Board Governance & Sustainability and Climate Action 100+ global Steering Committee member.

In addition to Ceres, Climate Action 100+ is supported and coordinated by the Asia Investor Group on Climate Change (AIGCC); the Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC); the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC); and the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). Ceres CEO and President Mindy Lubber serves as member of the global Steering Committee, which governs the initiative. Ceres also co-leads the global communications and fundraising efforts for the initiative.

Learn more: www.climateaction100.org and follow: @ActOnClimate100.