FinanceMap scores this financial institution in the following areas. Please navigate to the relevant tab for in-depth analysis
FinanceMap assesses these portfolios for this financial institution. Please navigate to the relevant tab for in-depth analysis.
Fossil fuel companies are those whose primary sector falls within coal mining and services, or up-, mid-, and downstream oil and gas sectors. Green companies are defined as companies having over 75% revenue deriving from Substantial Contribution to Mitigation activities under the EU Taxonomy.
Portion of AUM Assessed: $8.3B
| Holding Name | Contribution to Sector Production |
|---|---|
| Enel SpA | 25.3% |
| NTPC Ltd | 16.5% |
| RWE AG | 11.6% |
| Clearway Energy Inc | 8.0% |
| SSE PLC | 6.7% |
| Engie SA | 5.6% |
| Sembcorp Industries Ltd | 3.5% |
| Nextera Energy Inc | 3.0% |
| CLP Holdings Ltd | 2.7% |
| PPL Corp | 2.3% |
| Holding Name | Contribution to Sector Production |
|---|---|
| Mercedes-Benz Group AG | 65.7% |
| Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd | 23.0% |
| Maruti Suzuki India Ltd | 6.9% |
| BYD Co Ltd | 2.5% |
| Toyota Motor Corp | 1.9% |
| Holding Name | Contribution to Sector Production |
|---|---|
| Alamtri Resources Indonesia Tbk PT | 73.9% |
| United Tractors Tbk PT | 16.6% |
| Banpu PCL | 9.5% |
| Holding Name | Contribution to Sector Production |
|---|---|
| BP PLC | 33.9% |
| TotalEnergies SE | 28.0% |
| Shell PLC | 12.6% |
| Energean PLC | 8.7% |
| SM Energy Co | 4.8% |
| Woodside Energy Group Ltd | 4.3% |
| Saudi Arabian Oil Co | 2.3% |
| Northern Oil and Gas Inc | 1.4% |
| Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras | 1.4% |
| Magnolia Oil & Gas Corp | 1.4% |
Aberdeen appears to place a strong focus on climate change and ESG issues in its stewardship approach, although it has not demonstrated a clear push for a “rapid and far-reaching” transition as needed to limit warming to 1.5°C. The organization has clearly described how it selects and prioritizes climate-related sectors, launching a two-year engagement program in 2022 focusing on the top 20 financed emitters, and outlining its climate-related engagement priorities. Its Investments Engagement Policy details five milestones to define engagement success, and the asset manager has processes to assess companies’ transition plans, but does not specifically assess net-zero alignment. Aberdeen’s escalation strategy includes measures such as letters to the board, voting, public statements and divestment, however, it does not provide a climate specific escalation strategy or examples of escalation for climate reasons.
Aberdeen appears to be actively engaging companies on climate. For example, in 2024 it engaged with Iberdrola on its climate ambitions and net zero emissions target, and in 2023 it encouraged Ultratech Cement to increase its renewable energy share and have emissions reductions targets verified. Aberdeen’s engagements with Iberdrola and Ultratech Cement appear to have resulted in some progress on climate, although it is unclear whether the asset manager is responsible for these outcomes. The asset manager also appears to monitor climate policy engagement activities of its clients through climate transition plan assessments, but it is unclear whether it is actively engaging on the topic. Aberdeen is involved with climate-related investor initiatives including Climate Action 100+, Nature Action 100, and PRI Advance. While it did not disclose collaborative engagement examples in 2024, it previously engaged with Enel as a lead investor of CA100+ to encourage strengthening of its decarbonization and disclosures.
Aberdeen’s Sustainability Investment Strategy Group, Sustainability Standards Group, and Active Ownership Team make up its governance structure and are responsible for reviewing the effectiveness of its stewardship policies and activities. The asset manager describes how it has sought clients’ views in its stewardship approach, including through client meetings and roundtables, seminars, and Request for Proposals. While it does not disclose a full list of companies engaged, it has disclosed some engagement case studies and the outcomes sought. Aberdeen discloses all proxy voting data and some justifications, and has outlined its decision-making policy for climate votes.
The asset manager does not appear to have actively participated in filing or co-filing climate-related shareholder resolutions in the last two years. Insightia data suggests that Aberdeen has mixed support of AGM resolutions InfluenceMap categorizes as in line with the Paris Agreement, supporting 48.1% in 2019, 55.7% in 2020, 45.7% in 2021, and showing a decrease of support in 2022 with 36.1%.
FinanceMap's methodology to measure the engagement process on climate was developed in consultation with several of the world's leading asset managers and uses key aspects of the UK Financial Reporting Council's 2020 Stewardship Code . The Stewardship Code was chosen to benchmark engagement quality as it provides an ambitious framework and detailed definitions of what constitutes effective engagement. FinanceMap defines the term ‘engagement’ as referring to all investor actions undertaken to influence the management strategy of the companies they own including private communications with corporate management and appointed advisors; questions at AGMs/other company meetings; comments on the company in the media; escalation and the shareholder resolution process (filing, voting behavior). FinanceMap’s methodology breaks the engagement process down into a set of sub-activities and looks for evidence associated with these across publicly available data sources.
Climate-relevance categorization of shareholder resolutions is based on the IPCC’s Special Report on 1.5°C and its concluded need for “rapid and far-reaching transitions in land, energy, industry, buildings, transport, and cities.” FinanceMap scored voting on any resolution where the intent and likely outcome is consistent with this IPCC stated need. The voting data is drawn from asset managers' disclosures to the US Security Exchange Commission (SEC), asset manager websites (including third-party websites they link to), directly from the asset managers, and through specialist voting data provider Insightia. The full list of resolutions assessed is available here.
The following table outlines the key queries and data sources, which FinanceMap uses to assess asset managers' corporate engagement programs. Every evidence piece is assessed on a five-point scale of -2,-1,0,1,2 or NA (not applicable)/NS (not scored). All queries, data sources, and evidence pieces are weighted against one another in a matrix system to arrive at a final top-level score. Clicking on specific cells will load the underlying evidence and information on how it has been assessed.
