Two years to the day since 195 governments adopted the Paris climate agreement, investors including Pacific Investment Management Co, Amundi, Legal & General Investment Management, Northern Trust and Aegon said they aimed to work with the 100 biggest polluting companies to curb emissions under a five-year plan. That, they said, would be more effective than threatening to pull the plug on their investments in such companies... 

“We will be asking companies ... to curb emissions and bring them down in line with the Paris goals,” said Anne Simpson, investment director of sustainability at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System. That would mean roughly an 80 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, she told reporters on a teleconference, beyond the ambition of most companies... Under the investors’ plan, divestment would only be a last resort. If big emitters refuse to cooperate with them, shareholders could ratchet up pressure with public statements, resolutions and votes.