Investors push new climate lobbying standards

A coalition of investors and activists on Monday unveiled a new system to judge corporate lobbying on climate change.

Driving the news: The "Global Standard on Responsible Climate Lobbying" is developed by the Swedish pension plan AP7, BNP Paribas Asset Management and the Church of England Pensions Board alongside sustainable investing advocates.

• It's designed to provide a "rigorous framework to assess whether a company’s lobbying is governed and delivered in line with attainment of the Paris Agreement’s goals."

Why it matters: It signals the growth of efforts to create more cogent and rigorous ways to assess corporate behavior.

• Recent years have brought fresh initiatives to weigh the integrity of companies' emissions-cutting pledges, climate-related disclosures and more.

Zoom in: The 14 "framework indicators" of company lobbying include whether companies commit to "align" lobbying with the Paris Agreement's ambitious temperature goal; board-level oversight of lobbying; detailed disclosures of work with trade groups and coalitions and how much they're paid; and much more.

Threat level: Investor networks backing the framework have over $130 trillion in combined assets under management, the backers said. Companies falling short of the standards could see new shareholder resolutions on the topic, they said.