Policy Hub

In Debt to the Planet 2025 – UK Policy Briefing

This policy briefing accompanies ShareAction’s In Debt to the Planet 2025 report, which reveals how major financial institutions continue to bankroll the climate crisis. Focusing on the UK’s five largest retail banks - Barclays, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Lloyds, and NatWest - it shows that banks are still funneling billions into fossil fuel expansion, weakening their own climate commitments, and failing to produce credible transition plans. The briefing sets out clear, practical recommendations for the UK Government and regulators to strengthen transition plan requirements, phase out fossil fuel financing, and accelerate investment in the technologies and infrastructure needed for a fair, competitive green economy.

Pensions Schemes Bill: Briefing for Lords 2nd Reading

Questions for TCFD Post-implementation review

ShareAction has responded to the Government’s consultation reviewing the implementation of Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures and guidance to share views on the direction of the UK’s sustainable disclosures.

Joint letter on the exclusion of fossil fuel expansion from future SFDR fund categories

Together with more than 25 organisations, we sent a letter to the European Commission calling on it to ensure that investment products labelled as “sustainable”, and especially those under the "transition" category, do not include companies that are still planning new fossil fuel projects. It is essential that the EU shows clear leadership and avoids any confusing or misleading claims about green investments. The upcoming review of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) is a key opportunity to strengthen trust, protect consumers, and facilitate the green transition.

Pension Schemes Bill Report Stage - ShareAction Amendment

We encourage MPs of all parties to add their name to amendment NC17, and speak in support of it at the debate. Clarification of pension schemes’ fiduciary duties via amendment NC17 would support improved outcomes for UK pension savers and boost investment in UK growth. It would also support investment by pension schemes in housing, decarbonisation, regeneration, education and care – all matters raised by MPs in earlier debates. This amendment would reduce the likelihood of needing to invoke Government’s proposed power to set asset allocation targets on pension schemes, which has raised concerns in earlier stages.

Joint open letter on the role of stewardship in the upcoming SFDR review

Together with 7 other NGOs, we have sent a letter to EU Commissioners calling on them to make stewardship requirements a core part of the upcoming review of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), the EU’s main tool to improve sustainability transparency in the financial sector. While stewardship is already a widespread and expected practice among financial market participants, the current SFDR provisions do not fully harness its potential. The upcoming review presents a unique opportunity to establish a stronger and more consistent framework that ensures stewardship is genuinely impactful and that investors’ influence drives the EU’s sustainability transition.

Joint open letter calling for an ambitious Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation

Together with BEUC (The European Consumer Organisation), Finance Watch, WWF, and other European NGOs, we sent a letter to Commissioners Albuquerque and Séjourné urging that the upcoming review of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) deliver a clear and credible framework for sustainable investments. The letter calls for the inclusion of measurable fund categories, robust exclusions for harmful activities such as fossil fuel expansion, and strong stewardship criteria to build investor trust in the EU’s Savings and Investment Union.

Joint open letter to the European Commission to exclude companies developing new fossil fuel projects from all sustainable fund categories

Together with more than 100 NGOs, financial institutions, and academics, we have co-signed an open letter to Commissioners Albuquerque and Séjourné calling for strong safeguards on fossil fuel exclusions in the forthcoming revision of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). The letter urges the European Commission to ensure that all newly established SFDR product categories exclude companies developing new fossil fuel projects, a necessary step to prevent greenwashing, align with climate science, and restore trust among citizens and retail investors.