Australasia Centre of Corporate Responsibility
$40,000 | May 2023
What do Australasia Centre of Corporate Responsibility do?
ACCR creates change through the effective deployment of shareholder strategy to shift high emitting companies towards emissions reduction pathways. Through effective engagement/escalation, companies are pressured to adopt alternative strategic pathways in line with the Paris Agreement and investor expectations. They work strategically and collaboratively with investors globally, and key stakeholders in the climate movement, to optimise the use of shareholder engagement tools (e.g. shareholder resolutions, board campaigns, litigation, etc). They look at the shareholder tools on offer and design their strategy around potential to deliver changes to company strategy across their target companies, to decrease absolute, real world emissions, in line with the best available science.
Why is this work important?
By 2030, total global greenhouse gas emissions need to drop by 43% and energy-related greenhouse gas emissions need to drop around 45%. Scientific pathways to 1.5C require material changes to major emitters’ corporate strategies by 2030. ACCR seeks to bring about this change through forceful engagement with their portfolio companies, today. They target Australia’s largest emitters as well as global stocks whose footprint cannot be ignored. Avoidable delays to direct escalation with these companies, whose activities are misaligned with a safe climate, are unacceptable from an emissions perspective.
How is Groundswell supporting this work?
Recent and public big wins in shareholder strategy across major emitting companies globally has seen ACCR experience growing inbound approaches by institutional investors wanting to collaborate. Their plan for the next 12 months is to build on this momentum and strive for ultimate impact across the companies they already cover, while at the same time undertaking a period of growth to expand theircompany coverage and continue to build their investor networks. Some key things on the agenda include:
In April-June 2023 we will be running active campaigns in the Australian, UK and Japanese markets.
In June we will coordinate a shareholder strategy workshop with some of our key strategic partners in London. The discussion will be around not just improving, but optimising shareholder strategy execution in 2024. We will be joined by institutional investors, civil society and global climate philanthropy representatives. The outcomes of this workshop will help to shape shareholder strategy globally, utilising lessons learnt across partners and identifying key moments of impact that can be replicated.
We will review our stock selection, with a view to increasing our emissions universe, by July.
In the second half of the year AGM season begins for major Australian emitters BHP and AGL.
We are aiming to bring a conversation about the power of shareholder engagement to New York at UN Climate Week in September, alongside key allies within civil society and the investment community.
Due to significant global demand for our work, we are growing. We are expanding our climate science/research, company strategy and investor engagement teams, while also adding resources to our operations and communications.
We will continue our focus on the behaviour of Australian industry associations (e.g. APPEA, MCA) in order to call out destructive lobbying by industry as it happens.