Institutional investors are being asked to participate in a consultation about a possible new project to drive corporate action on air pollution.
The consultation is an initiative of Guy’s & St Thomas’ Foundation and CCLA Investment Management, who are proposing an investor intervention in the form of a corporate benchmark alongside a structured investor engagement initiative and a collective policy engagement effort.
The consultation, which is open until 17 December, follows a scoping study, carried out by consultancy Chronos Sustainability, of the role of investors in tackling corporate air pollution.
Guy’s & St Thomas’ Foundation and CCLA are arguing that poor air quality has a significant impact on population health, economies and the planet, and that companies are major contributors to air pollution.
They are proposing to initially focus on companies involved in on-road transport as the largest source of damaging air pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, and where there is significant scope to take action to reduce emissions.
The consultation is part of a 10-year philanthropic programme for Guy’s & St Thomas’ Foundation to tackle poor air quality in major urban areas.
“Alongside CCLA we are calling on investors and businesses to come together to put air pollution on their sustainability agendas,” said Matt Lomas, engagement director, investment, at Guy’s & St Thomas’ Foundation’s endowment.
“We believe that via collaboration we can take meaningful action, and in doing so, have a significant positive impact for people and planet as well as business resilience.”
Amy Browne, director of stewardship at CCLA, said air pollution was “a sustainability blind spot for many investors”.
“Our aim is to mobilise the investment community into action and to bring down the level of toxic pollution in the air that we breathe, the communities in which we live and in the habitats that produce our food and protect nature’s bounty,” she said.
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