Stewardship and investor pressure are key levers for driving climate outcomes at companies and can help reduce systemic risk from climate change. Annual stewardship reporting offers a glimpse into how asset managers are using these tools. Ahead of the 2026 reporting season, FinanceMap assessed 39 of the world’s largest asset managers’ 2025 stewardship reports1 to identify key trends and highlight best practice. Here is what to look out for in this year’s upcoming stewardship disclosures, if 2025 trends continue:
The distribution of scores shows a leading group of managers carrying out robust climate stewardship, but the highest concentration of managers score in the “C” range, characterized by occasional engagement with companies on climate but a lack of consistent, 1.5 °C-aligned ambition.
Regional averages show Europe leading on climate stewardship while North America and Japan lag behind. But comparing performance year-over-year shows that Japanese managers have improved over the last several years, while European and North American managers have seen their scores decline.
Managers most often reported engagements on climate-related disclosures and setting or improving emissions targets in 2025.
As demonstrated in Figure 3 above, managers most frequently disclosed engagements on climate-related disclosures and setting or improving emissions targets, followed by climate risk management, in their 2025 reporting. In 2026, managers that are not engaging ambitiously on climate—the majority in 2025—may only ask companies to enhance transparency or enterprise-level risk management. Alternatively, they may carry out fact-finding engagements to understand companies’ climate strategies rather than encourage them to take any action to mitigate climate change.
Figure 2 shows backsliding among North American managers over recent years. If this trend persists, they may continue to reduce ambition by retreating to fact-finding or disclosure-related engagements. Though European managers generally lead on climate stewardship, they have seen a slight decline in scores over the years and may also shift engagements to focus on disclosure over action. Given their upward trajectory since 2021, Japanese managers appear likely to disclose more case studies demonstrating outcome-driven climate stewardship.
In 2026, asset managers carrying out robust stewardship on climate will continue to engage beyond disclosure to drive 1.5 °C-aligned outcomes at companies. This may include encouraging companies to verify emissions targets, align lobbying activities with the Paris Agreement, or take action to materially reduce emissions, such as phasing out fossil fuel use. In the following best practice case studies, asset managers disclose how consistent engagement has led to positive climate outcomes at companies:
Since 2022, AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) has engaged Texas Instruments on its lack of emissions reduction targets beyond 2025. AXA IM outlined expectations for the company, including medium- and long-term targets and SBTi validation. Following regular communication throughout 2022 and 2023, Texas Instruments announced a 2030 net-zero target for its Scope 2 emissions. After reiterating its SBTi verification demands, the company committed to obtaining verification in 2024.
Since 2021, Aviva Investors has engaged with Air Liquide directly and through ShareAction’s Chemicals Working Group to encourage the company to secure validation of its near- and medium-term Scope 3 targets, publish a climate transition plan, and improve its emissions mitigation strategy disclosure. In 2024, Air Liquide updated its 2050 carbon neutrality target to include Scope 3 emissions, outlined a strategy to reduce these, and published its first Climate Transition Plan.
Over years of collaborative engagement through Climate Action 100+, BNP Paribas Asset Management drove Respol to improve its decarbonization metrics methodology and update its 2050 net-zero target to incorporate Scopes 1, 2, and 3 absolute emissions based on product sales, including fuel sales, which are a major contributor to its Scope 3 emissions. The manager also encouraged Unilever to publish its first Climate Policy Engagement Review aligned with the Global Standard.
Federated Hermes has engaged with Dominion Energy on climate since 2011, pushing the company to develop a decarbonization and just transition strategy. The company has demonstrated progress in response to individual and collaborative engagements, committing to net zero by 2050 and to coal power phase-down plans. Most recently, it closed two coal plants and expanded its just transition strategy disclosures. In addition, the manager’s engagement with Veolia led the utility company to incorporate investor feedback into its net-zero strategy and subsequently achieve SBTi validation and a 1.5 °C-aligned rating from Moody’s.
As 2026 stewardship reporting season approaches, these trends may help investors interpret this year’s reports and set stewardship expectations for their managers for the coming year. For investors who want to see that their asset managers are addressing climate risk, these expectations can include shifting the focus of engagements with companies from monitoring and enhanced transparency to encouraging 1.5 °C aligned action. For managers, the best practice examples above can serve as a model for demonstrating robust stewardship on climate in their disclosures and mitigating systemic climate risk to their portfolios.
1 This analysis focuses on reports published in 2025, which generally cover managers' stewardship activities in the 2024 fiscal year.
Asset managers included in this assessment: BlackRock, Vanguard, Fidelity Investments, State Street Investment Management, J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Amundi (Crédit Agricole), Capital Group, AllianzGI, PIMCO, Newton Investment Management, Mellon Investments Corporation, Insight Investment Mangement, Invesco, UBS Asset Management, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, T. Rowe Price, Northern Trust Asset Management, BNP Paribas Asset Management, Legal & General, Ostrum Asset Management, Mirova, Loomis, Sayles & Company, DWS (Deutsche Bank), MFS Investment Management (Sun Life Financial), Royal Bank of Canada Global Asset Management, Schroders, AXA Investment Management, Federated Hermes, HSBC Asset Management, Manulife Investment Management, Nomura, Santander Asset Management, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management, Aviva Investors, Asset Management One (Mizuho), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Sarasin & Partners, and Boston Trust Walden.
Methodology for stewardship scores can be found here.
For analysis on asset managers’ stewardship on climate lobbying last year, see our November 2025 briefing.
