One of the largest fund managers in Europe is pressing all companies in which it invests to employ the Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) framework to help boost their climate risk efforts.

The move is being seen as a major win for shareholders amid their ongoing fight for more transparent and comprehensive company disclosures.

Allianz Global Investors, which manages €557bn of assets, has updated its global corporate governance guidelines and is urging all companies to incorporate the TCFD into their business practices to help assess and manage their climate impact.

The TCFD, launched in 2015 by the Financial Stability Board, has become a prominent tool in aiding investors’ climate-related investment decisions.

Speaking to Reuters, Eugenia Unanyants-Jackson, director and head of ESG research at Allianz GI, said she expected to see more climate-related shareholder resolutions this year, covering numerous sectors including energy companies and financial services.

Allianz GI’s push for better climate disclosures follows the publication of its 2019 proxy voting record last week, which revealed it voted on nearly 100,000 shareholder and management proposals – opposing 24 per cent of all resolutions globally, the same figure as the previous year.

The asset manager said the figures reflected its active and globally consistent approach to stewardship and its willingness to vote against proposals that fail to meet its expectations of investee companies. Some €146bn of its overall assets are held in sustainability-focused strategies.

Participating in over 9,500 shareholder meetings over the course of 2019, Allianz GI voted against, withheld or abstained from at least one agenda item at 77 per cent of all meetings globally.

Compensation and executive pay proposals continued to stand out as the most contentious area, with the fund manager voting against 48 per cent of all compensation-related management proposals.

A large proportion of these votes were driven by concerns over weak links between pay and performance.

“Allianz GI recognizes that voting power comes with responsibility and we actively undertake and encourage constructive engagement with investee companies,” Unanyants-Jackson said.

“At the same time, we use our voting power to inform companies of our views and expectations, and to protect and advance the interests of our clients, which means that we are prepared to vote against management as and when necessary to achieve these objectives.”

Last Updated: 23 February 2020