Stockholm (NordSIP) – Storebrand Asset Management has announced it will begin excluding Toyota Motor Corporation from investment from the second quarter of 2025 due to Toyota’s persistent lobbying against climate-related regulation and policies, and Storebrand’s perception of its lack of transparency on the issues.
Four Years of Deaf Ears?
The exclusion of Toyota concludes a four-year-long period of structured engagement with the company, and escalation of engagement, during which Toyota failed to materially reform its climate lobbying practices and transparency, according to Storebrand AM. As a result of the exclusion, Storebrand sold off Toyota shares valued at NOK850 million as of 31st May, 2025
“Transparency on lobbying by companies and by the third-party associations funded by companies, is therefore important information for investors such as us. Climate lobbying disclosures indicate the whether the company’s business plans and commitments are in fact in line with its stated transition plan, and can expose potential reputational and legal risks,”says Kamil Zabielski, Head of Sustainable Investment, Storebrand AM.
Following a lengthy engagement and the lack of sufficient progress and indications that Toyota would not be likely to achieve the expectations we laid out, Storebrand AM decided to exclude the company from our investment universe, in accordance with its exclusion policy and our exclusion criteria for climate lobbying.
“This case illustrates the scale of the challenge in climate lobbying, and one that is underestimated by many investors. How will governments and investors achieve the climate targets that we have made, when companies are undermining this direction behind closed doors?” Zabielski asks.
Storebrand Expects Consistency
According to the Norwegian asset manager, ambitious climate regulations are an important enabler for companies to align their commercial activities with science-based commitments and the Paris agreement targets. Such regulations create a level playing field for all competitors, reduce uncertainty and drive innovation. Storebrand AM’s position on lobbying, in the context of climate policy, is that investors, companies and governments need to work together on ambitious solutions to achieve the Paris Agreement.
Negative corporate interest, often represented by third-party organisations, can hinder policy action that aims to mitigate the impacts of climate change. This can cause issues for investors, including legal and reputational risks, and long-term portfolio volatility. “We expect consistency in companies’ policy engagement in all geographic regions; and to ensure that engagement conducted on their behalf or with their support is aligned with the Paris agreement, in turn protecting the long-term value in our portfolios across all sectors and asset classes,” Storebrand AM explains.
Toyota Consistently Reject Climate Change Regulation
Storebrand AM argues that global automakers have operated as powerful influencers against climate policies required to meet Paris Agreement goals for road transport and that the majority of major automakers conduct global climate advocacy that is misaligned with science-based policy.
However, it argues that Toyota is the worst of these anti-climate change lobbyists. “Over time, Toyota has remained the worst performing this analysis, continuing to lead automotive opposition to climate regulations in multiple regions. These activities contribute to systemic risk, with Toyota’s lack of transparency over the activities compounding the risk by leaving investors unaware of materially critical activities that the company is undertaking,” Storebrand AM says.
Storebrand AM has informed Toyota of its decision to conclude the engagement and of the sale of our position in the company.
