Volkswagen rejects shareholder push for climate lobbying disclosures

BERLIN (Reuters) – Volkswagen has rejected a shareholder proposal for it to elucidate how its lobbying actions align with its local weather targets – one thing two of the carmaker’s main opponents have already promised to do, one of many buyers mentioned on Friday.

A submitting by a bunch of seven shareholders mentioned that whereas Volkswagen does disclose its commerce affiliation memberships, it ought to go additional and say whether or not the associations’ goals are suitable with its emissions-cutting targets.

Fellow carmakers Mercedes-Benz and BMW have already dedicated to doing that.

“The Board is failing to ship clear oversight of the corporate’s local weather lobbying,” mentioned Charlotta Sydstrand, sustainability strategist at Swedish pension scheme AP7, one of many shareholders concerned within the proposal.

Her feedback had been included in a press release issued by the Church of England Pensions group, which additionally backed the submitting.

The assertion mentioned Volkswagen had rejected the proposal on the grounds that the problem was deemed to be past the competence of the overall assembly.

Volkswagen was not instantly accessible for remark.

Different supporters of the proposal included Britain’s greatest listed asset supervisor Schroders and a variety of Swedish pension funds.

Strain by buyers on climate-related points is rising quickly.

Final week, 34 buyers managing greater than $7 trillion in property warned 17 of Europe’s largest firms, together with Volkswagen, they may problem board administrators over their accounting of local weather dangers.

(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee and Simon Jessop; Modifying by Helen Popper)