{"id":118788,"date":"2021-03-29T00:55:42","date_gmt":"2021-03-29T00:55:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?p=118788"},"modified":"2021-03-29T00:55:42","modified_gmt":"2021-03-29T00:55:42","slug":"japans-mufg-sumitomo-face-climate-votes-at-agms-as-activism-grows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/markets\/japans-mufg-sumitomo-face-climate-votes-at-agms-as-activism-grows\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan's MUFG, Sumitomo face climate votes at AGMs as activism grows"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Corrects to Sumitomo Corp, not Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, in first paragraph; removes reference to Japan\u2019s biggest banks)<\/p>

FILE PHOTO: The sun is reflected on a solar panel at a solar power field in Kawasaki, near Tokyo June 13, 2012. REUTERS\/Toru Hanai\/File Photo<\/figcaption>

TOKYO (Reuters) – Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Japan\u2019 biggest bank, and Sumitomo Corp, one of the country\u2019s largest trading houses, are being targeted with climate resolutions from activist shareholders at their annual shareholder meetings.<\/p>\n

Shareholders at Mizuho Financial Group, Japan\u2019s third-biggest bank, voted on a similar resolution at its annual general meeting (AGM) last year.<\/p>\n

While the proposal to align Mizuho\u2019s business with the 2015 Paris climate accord was defeated, it was the first listed company in the country to hold such a vote, and support for the resolution, at 35%, showed Japanese attitudes were changing.<\/p>\n

Once a rarity and easily rebuffed, shareholder votes on environmental issues have become increasingly common elsewhere and have helped to force corporate and financial change in the United States and Europe.<\/p>\n

A shareholder proposal submitted on Friday to Mitsubishi UFJ, which holds its AGM on June 29, called on the bank to outline how it will align investment and financing to Paris goals, according to a copy seen by Reuters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe aim of the proposal is to manage the company\u2019s exposure to climate change risks, and maintain and increase its corporate value,\u201d said an explanatory note in the resolution, which is being sponsored by Kiko Network, a Japanese non-government organisation that had also brought the Mizuho resolution, and Rainforest Action Network.<\/p>\n

The proposal submitted on Friday to Sumitomo, which holds its AGM this year on June 25, by the group Market Forces called on the company to adopt and disclose a business strategy to align itself with the Paris goal of limiting global temperature increases to 1.5 degree Celsius.<\/p>\n

The language of the resolutions is very similar to those used elsewhere by environmentally-conscious investors to push banks out of financing the dirtiest fossil fuel industries, like coal.<\/p>\n

(Graphic: Climate temperature trajectory by region – )<\/p>\n

Policymakers and regulators are also pressuring banks to do more to accelerate the move to a low-carbon economy.<\/p>\n

Already this year 79 climate-related resolutions have been filed by shareholders in the United States, compared with 72 for all of last year and 67 in 2019, recent data showed.<\/p>\n

The resolutions generally push companies across sectors, from oil and transport to food and drink, to detail how they plan to reduce their carbon footprints in coming years, in line with government pledges to cut emissions to net zero by 2050.<\/p>\n

Japan, which recently pledged carbon neutrality by 2050, is the only major industrialised economy that is expanding use of coal.<\/p>\n

The Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 led to the shutdown of most of the country\u2019s reactors, which once supplied about a third of the electricity in the world\u2019s third-biggest economy.<\/p>\n

(Graphic: Climate temperature trajectory by sector – )<\/p>\n

(This story corrects to Sumitomo Corp, not Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, in first paragraph; removes reference to Japan\u2019s biggest banks)<\/p>\n

Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Corrects to Sumitomo Corp, not Sumitomo Mitsui<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":118787,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23054],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nJapan's MUFG, Sumitomo face climate votes at AGMs as activism grows - Pre Coin News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/markets\/japans-mufg-sumitomo-face-climate-votes-at-agms-as-activism-grows\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Japan's MUFG, Sumitomo face climate votes at AGMs as activism grows - Pre Coin News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"(Corrects to Sumitomo Corp, not Sumitomo Mitsui\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/markets\/japans-mufg-sumitomo-face-climate-votes-at-agms-as-activism-grows\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pre Coin News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-29T00:55:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mediabest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/cnewsfotor693-1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"mediabest\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/markets\/japans-mufg-sumitomo-face-climate-votes-at-agms-as-activism-grows\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/markets\/japans-mufg-sumitomo-face-climate-votes-at-agms-as-activism-grows\/\",\"name\":\"Japan's MUFG, Sumitomo face climate votes at AGMs as activism grows - 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