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In response to the Reclaim Finance report, “It’s Not What You Say, It’s What you Do”, the Chair of the UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance Günther Thallinger says:
“The Alliance is looking for active and constructive dialogue with civil society so that its members can enable the implementation of the crucial transition to a 1.5°C pathway, as required by the 2015 Paris Agreement.”
“Asset owners themselves must raise ambition to achieve robust interim emission targets for which they are accountable. While civil society has a crucial role in helping get more financial service providers to commit to net-zero by pushing those who are already running to go faster and push those who remain standing.”
“Alliance members are already changing their investment decision-making, enabling them to work effectively with others on the transformation at the beginning of this decisive decade. With science-based short-term targets for portfolio emission reductions; sector emission intensity reductions; company engagement; and financing the transition, plus neutral target-monitoring established in the form of an UN-led secretariat, we have made robust first steps.”
“The transformation away from fossil energy is driven by these science-based pathways. Such an approach allows for not only a viable but also a just transition. A simple ‘no investment in fossil energy – especially oil and gas’ would create social and economic inequities, and thus would ultimately slow down the crucial transition into renewable energy.”
Alliance members have set strict deadlines on target-setting: 29 of AOA’s 60 members have already set 2025 targets. The net-zero AOA is thus one of the few, if not the only, globally active group of companies (not only financial institutions) who have set 2025 targets. They will begin reporting against these targets next year. Reporting is monitored by the UN.
Members have 12 months from joining the Alliance to set their interim targets, with the cut-off point for inclusion in the Progress Report being 30 June 2021. The Progress Report aggregated the intermediate emissions reductions targets set by members as part of the 2025 Alliance Target Setting Protocol. The Protocol guides how individual members will set science-based emission reduction targets, achievable in the next five years, informed by IPCC 1.5°C no and low overshoot pathways.
Alliance targets must be set on scientific no and low overshoot pathways, that include several technological phase-outs over time, certainly including coal. In addition, the Alliance has an explicit Position on Coal phase-out, which members are adopting into their own policies, a process that is ongoing and that the Alliance will accelerate.