European and American asset managers diverge on climate lobbying, new research shows
Globally, most managers are either ‘inactive or inconsistent’ on climate lobbying, despite asset owner interest in the topic rising, according to new research among the 39 largest managers
Over the past few years, disclosures on corporate climate lobbying have become a key asset owner demand during and beyond the proxy season. From oil and gas majors to carmakers, investors have pushed for climate lobbying to become a central component of investor-investee conversations.
Yet, new research by InfuenceMap has found that on average, asset managers are ‘either inactive or inconsistent’ on with their climate lobbying engagement. The analysis covers 39 large asset managers with a collective $75tn under management.
Divergence
To guide the analysis, InfluenceMap measures climate lobbying stewardship through a score based on publicly available information. The score includes, among other things, a manager’s voting record on climate policy resolutions.
The findings show significant regional variation, particularly between European and North American asset managers. The data, which reflects voting behaviour between 2021 and 2024, shows European managers consistently support over 95% of resolutions. In comparison, North American support has declined to 34%, on average.
The findings reflect the on-going divergence on ESG stewardship between European and American managers.
“The findings of this report definitely do track with what we see regionally from asset managers on general climate stewardship”, says Bonnie Steinberg, a senior analyst at InfluenceMap.
“US-based firms are mentioning climate change less and giving fewer details about what they are doing to meet their climate commitments. This is likely due to political pressures, which have led many US firms to leave net-zero alliances and generally reduce ambition”, she told Net Zero Investor.
There are, however, some firms that lead the curve according to InfluenceMap’s data. A group of seven managers – Amundi, Federated Hermes, Legal & General Asset Management, BNP Paribas Asset Management, Schroders, Sarasin & Partners and Boston Trust Walden have a history of filing and supporting resolutions based on climate lobbying, the research finds.
Meanwhile, BNY Mellon and Fidelity Investments score lowest in the study, InfluencMap said.
Despite demand
The findings of faltering ambition on lobbying stewardship come despite a broader increase in asset owner interest in the issue.
The case of Japanese car maker Toyota offers a glimpse into asset owner interest in climate lobbying. At the AGM last year, asset owners including the Church of England Pensions Board and Danish pension fund AkademikerPension backed a resolution calling for climate lobbying disclosures.
In addition, the Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance has endorsed the push for lobbying stewardship.
“While this report only assesses the asset managers themselves on their incorporation of climate lobbying into stewardship activities, many asset owners have demonstrated that this is a key concern”, says Steinberg.
To these asset owners, the findings paint a worrying picture of managers not aligning with their interests. However, regional variation in findings offer a crucial caveat.
“This research shows that many large asset managers are currently not meeting the expectations set by asset owners. However, we have seen consistent improvements over the past few years in particular in Europe and Japan, likely at least in part due to growing asset owner demand”, Steinberg notes.
The evidence on corporate climate lobbying stewardship, adds to increasing evidence of the asset manager divergence – in the aftermath of the ESG backlash in the US, North American and European managers have seemingly developed contrasting responses. Given asset owners' consistent call for alignment between their interests and managers’ offering, the divergence across the Atlantic is likely to be commercially material.
