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Newsmakers

Church of England Joins Rio Tinto Resolution

Investors are calling on the company to disclose ties with mining industry bodies.

By Michael Katz

The Church of England Pensions Board has joined other major investors in Rio Tinto in filing a shareholder resolution calling on the mining company to fully disclose and review its relationships with industry bodies, such as the Minerals Council of Australia.

The Church’s pension board maintains that industry bodies like Australia’s Minerals Council “block progress on Australian and global climate and energy frameworks,” the group said in a release.

“Rio Tinto has supported the Paris Agreement,” said Adam Matthews, head of engagement for the Church of England Pensions Board. “However, that position is undermined when industry associations and lobbying groups, financially supported by Rio Tinto, take contrary lobbying positions.”

Other investors taking part in the proposed resolution include Swedish pension fund AP7 and Australia’s Local Government Super. The resolution is being coordinated by the Australian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR).

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ACCR recently filed a similar shareholder resolution with Australian mining giant BHP Billiton, asking it to reconsider its membership with the Minerals Council of Australia. Although the motion didn’t pass, BHP reportedly agreed to a review of its industry associations, which led to the company announcing plans to leave the World Coal Association. It also said it would withdraw from the Minerals Council of Australia if it didn’t change the way it lobbied for coal.

“The activities of trade associations which block essential climate policy, funded in large part by major resources companies, is of increasing concern to investors globally,” said the ACCR. “Of particular concern is a misalignment between the top-line climate commitments of companies, and the relative positions of their trade groups. These discrepancies leave shareholders unclear as to the validity of corporate statements on climate.”

LGS said its research shows that Rio Tinto provides significant funding to industry groups “whose energy and climate change policy stance seems entirely contrary to Rio’s stated formal commitment to the Paris Agreement’s target of limiting global temperature increases to well below 2°C.”

The Australian fund added that as a long-term shareholder in Rio Tinto, it wants to better understand the shareholder value it gets from the company funding third-party industry groups.

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Home > News > Regulation > Senate Sends Back KY Pension Bill
Regulation

Senate Sends Back KY Pension Bill

A.G. Beshear warned of illegalities prior to non-vote.

By Chris Butera

Just as the Kentucky Senate was about to vote on the controversial Senate Bill 1, Attorney General Andy Beshear warned the bill would not hold up in court if made a law.

Beshear told reporters and encouraged protesters of SB 1 by telling them that “if the Senate passes SB 1 today, they’ll be breaking the law,” reports Kentucky.com. “The General Assembly decades ago made a promise that if you dedicate your life to public service, if you spend decades teaching our children, protecting our families through law enforcement, protecting neglected children through being a social worker, that we will guarantee you a solid retirement.”

According to the publication, the Friday session—during which the Senate was supposed to vote on the bill—began around 9 a.m., albeit in recess for most of the morning. Following the lunch break, the Senate chose not to vote on the bill at all, sending it back to the Senate State and Local Government Committee.

“After long discussions last night, today, this morning, this afternoon, individuals wanted more time to consider the position that we’re in,” Senate President Robert Stivers said to the delight of several hundred protesters, who cheered for the vote’s stalling.

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After the original bill was deemed illegal by Beshear, a substitute bill was unveiled which aimed to fix the issues. Although it was voted in favor by the committee earlier in the week, Beshear also posted videos on his social media accounts indicating that the substitute bill would not hold up in a court of law as there were still 21 violations, including reductions to the teachers cost of living adjustments (COLA).

With an unfunded liability of more than $40 billion, Kentucky’s pension system is one of the worst-funded in the country. Stivers and the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Joe Bowen, have attested that the bill is in fact legal, with the revised version to improve its legal standing.

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