Chapter 08 · Finance, data & evidenceSustainable Finance & Investment
Climate Action 100+
Definition
An investor-led initiative launched in 2017 that coordinates institutional investors to engage the world's largest corporate greenhouse-gas emitters ("focus companies") on three goals: strong climate governance, value-chain emissions reduction, and disclosure and implementation of credible transition plans. Its public Net Zero Company Benchmark scores focus companies against these expectations.
References
Phase 2 goals and structure (to 2030); shift from disclosure to transition-plan implementation; Net Zero Company Benchmark; lead-investor model.
2017 launch; Benchmark history; signatory growth (>615 by 2021, >US$60tn AUM); focus-company counts.
Overview
What it means
CA100+ institutionalised collaborative climate stewardship: by Phase 2 (launched 2023, running to 2030) it counted over 600 signatories responsible for tens of trillions in assets, engaging roughly 170 focus companies, with benchmarked progress — from five companies with net-zero commitments at launch to 75% by 2022.
Phase 2 shifted emphasis from disclosure to transition-plan implementation, with escalation expectations and flagged votes. The initiative also became a flashpoint of the anti-ESG backlash: US political and antitrust pressure prompted several major US asset managers to withdraw or scale back in 2024, testing the durability of coordinated engagement as a governance model.
How it is used
Signatory investors file and vote on climate resolutions informed by Benchmark assessments; companies manage CA100+ engagement as a core investor-relations channel; the Benchmark functions as a de facto transition-plan scorecard used well beyond the signatory base.
Why it matters
CA100+ is the flagship test of whether coordinated shareholder engagement can move heavy emitters — and of how politicised that mechanism has become.