Publication Shareholder Impact Report 2022
Reflections on 2022 with ACCR’s Executive Director Brynn O’Brien
2022 has been a ground-breaking year. Along with other committed shareholders, we helped transform the board of Australia’s biggest carbon emitter AGL Energy over its handling of climate risks, and two companies we engage with - AGL and Origin - announced they were accelerating their exit from coal fired power generation. However, as the UN Secretary General said at COP27 in November: “We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator.”
The war in Ukraine has contributed to spiralling energy costs around the world. All the while, oil and gas companies rake in lucrative war profits and fossil fuel lobbyists use the crisis to manufacture arguments for increased fossil fuel production - in spite of the International Energy Agency forecasting a steady decline in fossil fuel demand.
At ACCR we have continued our work holding heavy emitters across the globe to account. We’ve deepened our engagement with investors of all sizes, many of whom are voicing increasing concerns about poor disclosure of climate risks, and company transition plans that are at odds with the aims of the Paris Agreement.
The climate-focused renewal of AGL’s board in November was a history-making moment, and illustrative of the power of shareholder engagement to produce real change. While Grok Ventures built an 11% stake in AGL and used it to catalyse board renewal, many of the strategies deployed over the course of this collaborative campaign are available to institutional investors of all sizes.
We embark on 2023 hyper-focused on achieving real-world emissions cuts from the companies with which we engage: every tonne of carbon prevented from entering the atmosphere contributes to a better chance at a more liveable planet. We’re also honing in further on the destructive impact pro-fossil fuel lobbying has on our democracy.
ACCR’s team continues to grow in size and expertise - and I thank all our partners, shareholders and donors who have made this possible. Our work is urgent, and if you consider yourself an ethical investor, or you wish to support us in any way, I’d love you to join us in our mission!
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