Fortum’s General Assembly was to be held today on 17/03/20 in Finland. On the agenda was the integration, suggested by WWF, of the 1.5°C objective in the statutes of the association.

Fortum is the majority shareholder of Uniper which is planning to build a new coal-fired power station in Germany, Datteln IV, and is threatening to sue the Netherlands in order to oppose their decision to get out of coal by 2030. This is possible through the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) included in the European Energy Charter Treaty.

Fortum’s General Meeting was postponed due to the conoravirus, so a group of investors wrote a letter to the company’s board of directors in order to make their voive heard. In the letter, the investors strongly criticize the company’s practices, which they consider incompatible with the imperative for OECD countries to get out of coal by 2030. They call on Fortum to publish a coal exit plan in line with this goal.

The signatories are Amundi, Aviva Investors, AXA IM, Folksam, La Banque Postale AM, Legal and General IM, OFI AM and Osttrum. Amundi, AXA, La Banque Postale AM committed to fully exit coal.

Their letter is available here : Joint Investor Letter to Fortum – 2020.