New York City, US. The Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance should become obsolete in four to five years according to its chair, and board member at Allianz, Gunther Thallinger.
Speaking at the Sustainable Investment Forum North America 2022 today (22 September), Thallinger said that the standardization of sustainability reporting would lead to that obsolescence in the next four to five years.
"Once we have financial reporting supplemented by clear standardized climate reporting that is audited, used by capital market participants, informing ratings, then the efficiency of the capital market is reinstalled," he said. "Efficiency is really lacking today, because despite our engagement with companies, you have an unscalable approach to this engagement, and the information is not necessarily publicly available."
Even if the NZAOA will become obsolete in the next five years that doesn't mean to say asset owners that are not yet members shouldn't consider joining the alliance, Thallinger warned. "You need to join first. We need to work intently together and then its true, at a certain point in time with efficiency in the market, I hope we will become obsolete."
Thallinger also spoke of the importance of fostering trust that NZAOA members are taking actions on their pledges.
