Denmark’s AkademikerPension has raised “serious concerns” about Toyota Motor Corporation’s “ongoing negative climate lobbying”.

The pension fund has over USD 19bn in assets under management and is an active shareholder in Toyota. The car manufacturer’s annual general meeting (AGM) takes place tomorrow, 15 June, and AkademikerPension has submitted a series of questions after its request to deliver a statement at the AGM was denied by Toyota.

The questions it has submitted centre on how Toyota’s public statements, direct and indirect public policy activities align with the goals of the Paris Agreement of restricting global temperature rise to well below 2 ⁰C above pre-industrial levels and as close to 1.5 ⁰C as possible, whether Toyota management will be taking effective steps before next year’s AGM to significantly reduce the current reputational risks related with the company’s public statements and lobbying activities on climate-related public policies, and if Toyota’s management can commit to refraining from public statements and government lobbying that undermines the transition towards the full electrification of transport on a timeline consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

AkademikerPension has said Toyota’s lobbying activity appears to have “repeatedly sought to weaken legitimate attempts by governments around the world to phase out internal combustion engines and to phase in fuel economy standards and, critically, pure electric vehicles as the world heads towards renewable energy and electrification”.

The pension fund’s CIO, Anders Schelde, said: “In our view – and in the view of many other investors – the lobbying work undertaken by Toyota Motor has given the company a global laggard status on climate action within the auto sector. Public statements, increasing pressure on national governments to weaken EV policies and behind-the-scenes advocacy through business associations has been repeatedly obstructionist towards the bans on cars that are not purely electric. This is jeopardizing Toyota’s valuable brand to the detriment of shareholder interests.”

AkademikerPension has been engaging intensively with Toyota since March 2021 leading to Toyota promising to review and change its lobbying practices. Just before New Year’s Eve, Toyota published a report on some of its lobbying activities in the publication, Toyota’s Views on Climate Public Policies 2021. However, AkademikerPension said the report falls short of investor expectations expressed by, for example, the Climate Action 100+ Net Zero Company Benchmark, and more importantly, the company has continued to lobby against climate-related regulation and policies in e.g. the US, UK and France.

Furthermore, the pension fund said that despite improved transparency of the company, the publication also falls short of disclosures of industry peers to date.

In 2021 AkademikerPension withdrew a shareholder proposal before the AGM because Toyota committed to voluntarily review its lobbying practices. This year AkademikerPension went ahead and filed a shareholder resolution for the upcoming AGM. However, Toyota rejected the proposal on the grounds that it was sent one day too late for an undisclosed deadline.

Schelde said: “The company had failed to respond adequately to our concerns and rejected our shareholder proposal. What matters now is that the company stops its negative climate lobbying activities. This would be a prudent step to protect the company against consumer backlash and stronger shareholder protest.”


European Pensions has contacted Toyota for a response.

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