The impacts of global heating continue to intensify, with more frequent extreme weather events and heatwaves causing untold suffering across the world and damaging economies. Without immediate action, the global economy could suffer catastrophic loss of 50% in GDP between 2070 and 2090 (IFoA), meaning that beneficiaries of the world’s largest pension funds could be set to retire into an unknown and chaotic future.

Despite these risks, over the last two years we have seen some of the world's largest banks backtrack on climate. Wells Fargo dropped its climate targets, many major global players left the Net Zero Banking Alliance, and a growing number of banks have watered down energy policies to allow more financing to fossil fuel expansion.

This developing trend of backtracking should be of great concern to investors, many of whom have spent years engaging with banks to make these commitments in the first place. Banks moving away from prioritising the systemic and financial risks posed by climate change are failing to ensure appropriate governance and risk management.

Where the level of backtracking is material, responsible investors may want to take decisive action and vote against the Chair of the Board at these banks. Signalling that backtracking is not acceptable is an important lever for investors to help stem the tide of backtracking across the whole banking sector.

ShareAction, in partnership with the Pensions & Investment Research Consultants (PIRC), are monitoring and analysing instances of backtracking at 49 of the world's largest banks. ShareAction will publish voting recommendations in the table below.