Climate Action100+ (CA100+) was launched in December 2017 as a global investor engagement initiative on climate change. The initiative is centred around 3 Paris Agreement-aligned goals (updated in June 2023):
- Implement a strong governance framework which clearly articulates the board’s accountability and oversight of climate change risk.
- Take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the value chain, including engagement with stakeholders such as policymakers and other actors to address the sectoral barriers to transition.
- Provide enhanced corporate disclosure and implement transition plans to deliver on robust targets. This should be in line with the final recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and other relevant sector and regional guidance.
Phase 1 of CA100+ ran from 2017-22, with an initial recruitment drive and eventually the release of the Net Zero Company Benchmark in 2021. Also in 2021, CA100+ launched its first Global Sector Strategies workstream to provide tailored transition-focused investment advice for signatories. Reports under this workstream have been published on the aviation, steel, food and beverage, and electric utilities sectors.
In 2023, Phase 2 was launched to run through to 2030. Phase 2 work includes an expansion of the Global Sector Strategies workstream to encompass guidance on:
- Policy – supporting industry level advocacy for an ecosystem that supports the transition.
- Value chain – supporting signatories to treat their emissions along the value chain in harmony, rather than separately.
- Technology – ironing out technology shortfalls and identifying opportunities for Signatories to collaborate.
- Financing – working with Signatories to develop financing mechanisms that can support the transition beyond the scope of stewardship.
Phase 2 broadly reflects a shift from making investors aware of the inherent risks posed by climate change, to supporting them to act in a way that reduces those risks.
Net Zero Company Benchmark
The Net Zero Company Benchmark was first released in March 2021, as an assessment framework for CA100+ Signatories’ progress against the 3 goals. The Benchmark analyses public and self-disclosed data from Signatories, and assesses them against 2 indicators:
- Disclosure Framework Indictors: these evaluate the transparency and accessibility of corporate disclosures.
- Alignment Assessments: these provide evaluation of company actions against the goals of the Paris Agreement.
In March 2023 the Benchmark was updated to reflect shifts in corporate best practice on climate change. The latest iteration of the Benchmark further embeds emissions reductions as the first priority for investors and corporates, while further aligning the Benchmark’s requirements with the Paris Agreement 1.5C temperature goal, and the principles of a just transition. There were also expansions of disclosure requirements, and the alignment assessment processes to ensure new levels of stringency for Signatories.
Assessments of companies are publicly available here, and the latest version of the Benchmark can be downloaded here.
