TOKYO, April 10 (Reuters) – A coalition of local weather teams are stepping up strain on Japan’s high three banks to chop financing linked to fossil fuels, submitting shareholder resolutions to be voted on on the firms’ annual basic conferences in June, sources mentioned on Monday.
The teams are focusing on megabanks Mitsubishi UFJ Monetary Group (8306.T), Sumitomo Mitsui Monetary Group (8316.T), Mizuho Monetary Group (8411.T), all key to financing oil and gasoline tasks, mentioned the sources, who declined to be recognized as the data will not be but public.
The coordinated effort marks a step up from the previous three years, when local weather teams focused one megabank annually, now calling concurrently for motion by the Japanese banks, seen as lagging their world friends in efforts to slash carbon emissions.
The recent push, led by Australia’s Market Forces and Japan’s Kiko Community, comes as institutional buyers are more and more urgent firms to do extra to battle world warming.
Tokyo Electrical Energy (9501.T), Chubu Electrical Energy (9502.T) and buying and selling home Mitsubishi Corp (8058.T) may even face shareholder proposals from the identical coalition, which incorporates representatives of Pals of the Earth Japan and Rainforest Motion Community.
Shareholder activism on local weather change has been gaining momentum in Japan since 2020, when Mizuho was the primary listed firm within the nation to carry a climate-related vote.
Whereas comparable resolutions have been voted down final 12 months by shareholders at Tokyo Electrical, Chubu Electrical, Mitsubishi Corp and Sumitomo Mitsui Monetary, strain from these proposals has prompted some coverage modifications on the focused firms.
The megabanks, for instance, have pledged to stop funding for brand new thermal coal tasks lately amid larger strain.
Hurdles are excessive for the local weather resolutions as a result of they generally take the type of proposals to amend the articles of incorporation of an organization beneath Japanese company legislation, which requires a two-thirds majority. In earlier votes, local weather resolutions have obtained as much as 35% help.
Local weather activists are important of the banks’ transition plans that partly depend on applied sciences which they are saying are unproven, similar to coal co-firing with ammonia and carbon seize.
Each applied sciences have been promoted by the Japanese authorities as methods to scale back carbon emissions from coal- and gas-fired energy technology.
Mitsubishi UFJ Monetary and Mizuho Monetary declined to remark. Sumitomo Mitsui Monetary, Chubu Electrical and Mitsubishi Corp confirmed they’d obtained the shareholder resolutions and mentioned they’d talk about their content material.
Tokyo Electrical additionally confirmed it had obtained the decision however declined to remark additional.
Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Further reporting by Yuka Obayashi and Ritsuko Shimizu; Modifying by Sonali Paul
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