Influential shareholder adds to pressure on Barclays over fossil fuel loans
Europe’s largest asset manager is backing a shareholder vote urging Barclays to stop offering loans to fossil fuel companies.
Amundi, an influential investor with more than €1.65tn (£1.4tn) in assets under management, is the latest shareholder to throw its weight behind a resolution calling on Barclays to phase out services to energy companies that fail to align with Paris climate goals.
It comes amid rising concerns over Barclays’ role as Europe’s largest financier of fossil fuel companies.
The resolution, spearheaded by campaign group ShareAction, was filed in January by a group of 11 pension and investment funds managing more than £130bn worth of assets. The Church of England has also thrown its weight behind the climate resolution, which is the first to be lodged against a UK bank.
A spokesperson for Amundi, whose headquarters are in Paris, told the Guardian that the firm would vote in favour of the resolution at Barclays’ annual investor meeting in May.
“According to its voting policy for 2020, Amundi reiterates its priority on the question of the energy transition and the decarbonisation of the economy. And as such, we are favourable to any resolutions from shareholders that ask issuers to be more transparent around environmental and social factors. Therefore, the resolution of ShareAction is perfectly in line with our policy,” the spokesperson said.
While Amundi holds a minor stake in Barclays of about 0.02%, its decision to publicly support the resolution could put pressure on other asset managers to follow suit.
Some of Barclays’ largest shareholders, including BlackRock, have refused to disclose whether they will vote in favour of the resolution. That is despite BlackRock’s chairman and chief executive, Larry Fink, having pledged last month to strengthen the asset management firm’s “commitment to sustainability and transparency in our investment stewardship activities”. Instead, BlackRock plans to disclose key votes after they are cast.
Legal & General Investment Management, which holds a 2% stake in Barclays, has also declined to comment on its voting plans.
ShareAction’s campaign manager, Jeanne Martin, welcomed Amundi’s support. “It’s further proof that the most powerful investors are dissatisfied with Barclays’ financing of extreme fossil fuels such as coal, tar sands and fracking, and failure to keep pace with its competitors,” she said.
A recent study commissioned by campaign groups, including the Rainforest Action Network, singled out Barclays as the largest financier of fossil fuels in Europe, with lending and underwriting to carbon-intensive companies and projects totalling $85bn (£64bn) between 2015 and 2018.
Barclays is expected to disclose its position on the resolution in March. A spokesperson said: “We continue to engage with ShareAction and other stakeholders on this issue and will make a further statement at the appropriate time.”