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Miners and other top Australian firms face greater scrutiny from investors on greenhouse gas emissions, with companies that do not fully disclose their carbon risks to be increasingly targeted at shareholder meetings, an investor group said on Wednesday.
The Investor Group on Climate Change said it wanted all of Australia's top 200 listed companies to reveal data under the global Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) to allow investors to adequately assess carbon risks.
"We actually want companies to disclose information for investors, so the beauty of the Carbon Disclosure Project is that it is a tool specifically for the investment market," said Nathan Fabian, chief executive of the Investor Group on Climate Change.
He said 120 of the top 200 companies in the last financial year had provided data to the independent CDP, which acts as a global standard for the market to assess carbon risks, but there was room to improve.
The group represents Australian and New Zealand funds with more than $600 billion in investment and aims to encourage policies and practices to tackle the risks and opportunities of climate change.
Australia, the world's top coal exporter, is one of the developed world's most carbon-intensive economies and companies are increasingly calling for a price on carbon emissions to ensure access to funding for long-term investments.Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson on Tuesday backed a targeted price on carbon to underpin billions of dollars in new power plant investments.
He said there was a risk of large blackouts in 10 to 15 years because of the carbon price uncertainty now hanging over power generation investment.
BHP Billiton's chief Marius Kloppers last week called for a gradual transition to price carbon emissions, blamed for global warming, despite his company being among Australia's top greenhouse gas polluters.
ADVOCACY FUND
In a bid to increase corporate clarity on carbon, the Australian Ethical Investment Fund teamed up with Australia's Climate Institute think tank to pressure companies to provide more information on carbon risks at annual general meetings.
The pair have established an advocacy fund to buy shares in companies deemed to be falling short in informing investors about carbon risks, providing the fund with opportunities to put climate change resolutions before shareholders' meetings.
The resolutions will call for clear disclosure of greenhouse emissions, plans to cut emissions and investment assumptions.
Such action is popular in Europe to shame companies to act.
"The aim of Australia's first climate change resolutions is to protect long-term investor returns," said James Thier, executive director of Australian Ethical Investment, announcing the initiative on Tuesday."The reality is that emissions-intensive companies and major polluters that aren't prepared for the rapidly emerging low pollution economy risk becoming uncompetitive," he added.
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