OSLO, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Companies are improving the way
they report about their impact on the climate, Norway's $1.3
trillion sovereign wealth fund said on Thursday, having long
called for fuller disclosures.
Investing the state's revenues from oil and gas production
and managed by a unit of Norway's central bank, the Government
Pension Fund Global is one of the world's largest investors in
equities, bonds and real estate.
It holds stakes in around 9,100 companies worldwide and has
set the pace on a host of issues in the field of environmental,
social and corporate governance (ESG).
"We are seeing substantial improvements in companies'
reporting on climate change across almost all industries. In
2020, almost 42% of the companies had very good reporting and
24% had good reporting," the fund's management arm, Norges Bank
Investment Management (NBIM), said in an annual report on
responsible investments.
"In general, we saw better reporting on governance and risk
management processes than on strategies and metrics."
Sector-wise, companies in telecommunications, personal and
household goods, and healthcare had the best reporting overall,
the fund said.
The reporting of companies in construction and building
materials, insurance, oil and gas, and industrial goods and
services was "generally weaker", it said.
DIALOGUE
The fund primarily focuses on dialogue with companies to
push its priorities. In 2020 fund officials held 2,877 meetings
with 1,209 companies, mainly digitally due to the coronavirus
pandemic, it said.
It initiated a dialogue with 16 banks on how to manage
climate risk in their lending and financing portfolios, the fund
said.
In the report, the fund highlighted that it had addressed
bank-financed emissions with Morgan Stanley and Australia
& New Zealand Banking Group Ltd, the environmental
impact of the fashion industry with Adidas and how to
produce cement with fewer emissions at HeidelbergCement
.
Aside from climate change, the fund had discussed the
remuneration of CEO Sundar Pichai at Alphabet, of
AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot at the pharmaceuticals
firm and the composition of the board and its nomination process
at oil firm Royal Dutch Shell.
(Reporting by Gwladys Fouche and Victoria Klesty; Editing by
Simon Cameron-Moore)