A coalition of climate groups are stepping up pressure on Japan’s top three banks to cut financing linked to fossil fuels, filing shareholder resolutions to be voted on at the companies’ annual general meetings in June, sources said on Monday.
The groups are targeting megabanks Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (8306.T), Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (8316.T), Mizuho Financial Group (8411.T), all key to financing oil and gas projects, said the sources, who declined to be identified as the information is not yet public.
The coordinated effort marks a step up from the past three years, when climate groups targeted one megabank each year, now calling simultaneously for action by the Japanese banks, seen as lagging their global peers in efforts to slash carbon emissions.
The fresh push, led by Australia’s Market Forces and Japan’s Kiko Network, comes as institutional investors are increasingly pressing companies to do more to fight global warming.
Electric Power (9501.T), Chubu Electric Power (9502.T) and trading house Mitsubishi Corp (8058.T) will also face shareholder proposals from the same coalition, which includes representatives of Friends of the Earth Japan and Rainforest Action Network.
Shareholder activism on climate change has been gaining momentum in Japan since 2020, when Mizuho was the first listed company in the country to hold a climate-related vote.
While similar resolutions were voted down last year by shareholders at Tokyo Electric, Chubu Electric, Mitsubishi Corp and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, pressure from these proposals has prompted some policy changes at the targeted companies.
The megabanks, for example, have pledged to cease funding for new thermal coal projects in recent years amid greater pressure.