Hosted by CCLA Investment Management and Guy’s & St Thomas’ Foundation
CCLA and Guy’s & St Thomas’ Foundation invite you to share your views on an approach to assessing responsible corporate action on air pollution.
CCLA Investment Management (CCLA) provides investment management products and services to charities, religious organisations and the public sector. Its purpose is to help its clients maximise their impact on society by harnessing the power of investment markets.
Guy’s & St Thomas’ Foundation is an independent foundation whose mission is to build the foundations of a healthier society. It invests, partners, engages and influences to come at big health challenges from all angles. Through its family of forward-looking organisations, it collaborates with its communities, partners and hospitals, and uses its assets to transform lives.
Introduction
Air pollution substantially impacts human health. It is the second-largest global risk factor for mortality – after high blood pressure - and contributed to 8.1 million deaths in 2021.1 In addition, the health impacts of air pollution significantly affect the economy. For example, health damages from exposure to PM2.5 air pollution in 2019 were estimated at US$8.1 trillion, equivalent to 6.1% of the world’s GDP.2 Air pollution also harms planetary health. It damages ecosystems, contributes to acidification, and reduces forest and agricultural yields.3
CCLA and Guy’s & St Thomas’ Foundation both recognise the scale and importance of air pollution in relation to human and planetary health. As investors with a shared commitment to building healthier communities to support healthier investment markets, the two institutions are collaborating to examine the part that investors can play in relation to air pollution.
CCLA and Guy’s & St Thomas’ Foundation have joined forces to commission a scoping review by Chronos Sustainability Ltd to explore the role of investors in tackling corporate air pollution. The outcome of this review is a proposal to develop a global benchmark to assess company preparedness and resilience to the impacts of urban air pollution.
Specifically, the benchmark will:
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define investor expectations of companies involved in urban road transport
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drive increased transparency and disclosure by companies on air pollution
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provide investors with an accessible way to understand and evaluate corporate practices
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showcase examples of good practice in corporate management of air pollution for the benefit of investors and companies.
Who should respond?
This consultation invites feedback from investors, companies, academics, non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders with an interest in reducing the impacts of corporate air pollution on public health and the environment.
How will the responses be used?
The responses will be used to inform CCLA and Guy’s & St Thomas’ Foundation’s thinking on the value to investors of a benchmark on corporate air pollution and, assuming there is support for the idea of a benchmark, will lead to further refinements of the benchmark assessment criteria and methodology. The benchmark will then be piloted with a selected group of companies prior to the launch of a global benchmark and baseline report in 2025.
Data privacy notice
You are encouraged to be open and honest in your responses, as this will help to inform future developments in this project. The information you provide will be stored securely and only accessed in its original form by a small core team. Response data will be shared on an anonymised basis (personal identifying information being removed) with the research team at Chronos Sustainability for analysis purposes. The results of the analysis will be shared on an anonymised basis. Responses will be aggregated at a sector, industry and geographic level. None of your answers will be attributed to you as an individual respondent in public communications. If you have any questions or concerns about the use of your data, please contact our Data Protection Adviser, Joy Doran at: joy.doran@ccla.co.uk.
If you have any questions about the consultation, please contact Hannah Wakelin at Chronos Sustainability: hannah@chronossustainability.com
Please note: The consultation will take around 45 minutes to complete, and will need to be completed in one go. If you wish you share questions amongst colleagues before answering, please refer to the full consultation document and supplementary information here.
Deadline for responses: Friday 17 January 2025. Please contact amy.browne@ccla.co.uk if you would like to request an extension beyond this date.