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JPMorgan Asset Management (NYSE:JPM) and State Street Global Advisors (STT) said this week they will leave Climate Action 100+, a $68T investor group that was established to push for shareholder influence in pressuring major producers of greenhouse gases to reduce emissions.
A third top global asset manager, BlackRock (BLK), said it will scale back its participation, meaning that none of the world’s five largest asset managers will be fully behind the activist effort.
JPM (JPM) said it has made a “significant investment” in developing its own climate risk engagement framework, while State Street (STT) and BlackRock (BLK) objected to the climate group’s “Phase 2” corporate engagement strategy, which they said conflicts with U.S. laws requiring money managers to act solely in clients’ long-term economic interest.
Climate Action 100+ said last year it would change its focus from pressuring companies on climate disclosures to pushing them to actively cut emissions.
The group had included many of the top asset management firms as members, but it has suffered some departures after coming under increasing scrutiny from Republican state attorneys general and Republicans in Congress opposed to ESG investing.
Vanguard and Fidelity Investments have never joined Climate Action 100+, but Goldman Sachs, Invesco and Pimco are among other large U.S. asset managers remaining in the group.
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