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MAJORITY ACTION’S CLIMATE MAJORITY PROJECT LAUNCHES TO ACCELERATE INVESTOR ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE
Eli Kasargod-Staub to Lead the Climate Majority Project, Formerly Known as 50/50 Climate Project
WASHINGTON, D.C., February 5, 2019 – The Climate Majority Project has launched to accelerate investor action on the climate change crisis. Formerly known as the 50/50 Climate Project, the Climate Majority Project (www.climatemajority.us) is a nonprofit effort focused on advancing climate responsibility among public companies through research, investor engagement, and accountability.
The former 50/50 Climate Project has merged with Majority Action, and is relaunching today as the Climate Majority Project under the leadership of Majority Action’s executive director, Eli Kasargod-Staub. Kasargod-Staub has spent his career working at the intersection of corporate governance and corporate accountability, and previously led research and corporate governance initiatives at the Service Employees International Union and the Australian Council of Trade Unions.
“We are on a fast-track to climate disaster, and we have just a decade to reverse course,” Kasargod-Staub said. “Making matters even worse is the Trump Administration’s policies reversing progress and accelerating the crisis. Absent policy leadership, investors have a responsibility to put pressure on public companies to reduce their carbon footprint now – and that is where the Climate Majority Project comes in. We will contribute to critical global investor efforts already underway by releasing new research reports, launching investor campaigns and holding companies accountable,” he said.
Climate change poses urgent and material risks to long-term investors worldwide. These risks are massive, quantifiable and undiversifiable, with the U.S. Fourth National Climate Assessment warning of mounting costs reaching hundreds of billions of dollars per year. According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the best hope of averting disaster requires cutting carbon emissions in half across the entire global economy by 2030, and then reaching zero emissions worldwide by 2050.
“Investors are calling for action on the climate crisis, but our research has shown that the largest asset managers have failed to pressure the management of carbon-intensive companies for real change,” Kasargod-Staub explained. “Failing to support shareholder climate resolutions and rubber-stamping management proposals tells companies to stick with the status quo. Investor votes speak louder than their words—and their voting signals a lack of concern and fails to incentivize progress when it comes to de-carbonizing. We intend to change that,” he said.
The Climate Majority Project works to harness the power of investors to promote climate responsibility on corporate boards and accelerate economy-wide decarbonization. We work with some of the world’s largest institutional investors to encourage public companies to adopt responsible corporate governance practices and implement long-term strategies in line with the scale of our climate challenge. Initially founded in 2014 as the 50/50 Climate Project, Majority Action’s Climate Majority Project is a non-profit effort located in Washington, D.C. More information is available at www.climatemajority.us.
Contact: Kelly Kenneally | 202.256.1445 | [email protected] | www.climatemajority.us