Asset owners welcome assessment of manager alignment with NZAOA stewardship guidelines

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🗞️ Driving the news: Asset owners are supporting a new framework that evaluates whether public equity managers align with the Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance (NZAOA) stewardship guidelines
• Developed by SDGLabs, the tool focuses on the 100 largest equity managers and aims to improve transparency and accountability in climate-aligned investment practices

🔭 The context: NZAOA stewardship guidelines provide a benchmark for investors to assess how effectively asset managers engage with companies on decarbonization and net-zero commitments
• SDGLabs’ framework grades managers based on engagement quality, reporting transparency, and integration of climate targets into portfolios, helping asset owners meet fiduciary and net-zero obligations

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: By holding asset managers accountable for aligning with net-zero goals, the framework encourages more effective corporate engagement on emissions reductions
• Better-aligned stewardship can accelerate decarbonization in the real economy, helping to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and support the transition to sustainable finance

⏭️ What’s next: SDGLabs plans to expand the framework to cover additional asset classes and regional markets, while asset owners are expected to use the assessments to inform manager selection, engagement strategies, and voting decisions
• Wider adoption could standardize climate stewardship expectations across the investment industry

💬 One quote: “This framework offers asset owners a tangible way to measure and influence how managers act on net-zero commitments.” – SDGLabs spokesperson

📈 One stat: 100 largest public equity managers are currently being assessed under the new stewardship alignment framework

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