A.P. Møller-Mærsk A/S (“Maersk”) is a logistics company and one of the world’s largest container shippers, operating in 130 countries and with over 100,000 employees. It is one of the world’s top 100 carbon emitters and was therefore included in the Climate Action 100+ (CA100+) collaborative engagement. We act as the co-lead investor, alongside Akademiker Pension.
We began engaging with the company on its response to climate change in 2016, particularly focusing on the resilience of its asset portfolio and pushing for disclosure in line with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).
Over the following years, we have focused our engagement on the company’s lack of science-based greenhouse gas emission reduction targets and pressed for greater transparency on the company’s public policy alignment. A number of these engagements were CA100+ meetings with the leads from the central sustainability team.
We have built on our initial climate-related concerns to request progress on the company’s decarbonisation strategy and targets, encourage the disclosure of how capital allocation aligns with its short-term targets and demonstration of how it was managing potential externalities linked to the use of alternative shipping fuels; and request that the International Energy Agency’s 1.5°C scenario be referenced in its TCFD reporting.
We commend progress made by the company over the course of our engagement. This began at the top where the company restructured its sustainability function and governance, including sustainability responsibilities being embedded into operational function. From here, the company has met, or even exceeded, many of our requests, such as conducting a review of its position and/or policies on various climate-related topics and providing a high-level overview of the alignment of key industry associations and actions taken where misalignment was found.
The company also announced in 2022 an accelerated net zero target from 2050 to 2040 which now incorporates all direct and indirect emissions across the entire business. The decarbonisation strategy includes medium-term 2030 targets, which it has committed will be aligned with the SBTi 1.5°C pathway.
We will continue to engage with the company on the development of lobbying disclosures to align with best practices, its response to physical climate risks, its role in the just transition, and its alignment of capital allocation with climate targets and strategy.