Time To Get Real: Current and Future Best Practice for Investor Engagement on Climate Policy

What It Is: A 2026 report from Volans, a think tank and certified B Corp, drawing on 18 months of research (70+ interviews, six investor roundtables, and a 77-response survey of investors representing about $33 trillion in assets) to map how institutional investors engage on climate policy today and what best practice should look like. 

Why It Matters: Climate policy engagement is still a poorly resourced add-on, typically staffed by fewer than two people, with 38% of effort going to disclosure rules. Roundtable participants say they would cut that to 16% and double sector-level policy work from 14% to 27%, since stable, predictable rules protect long-term returns. That is a Responsibility a) concern for healthy market rules. 

How to Use It: Investors can use the guidance section to build a policy engagement practice anchored in their mandate and consistent across direct and indirect channels. Companies can use the report to anticipate investor scrutiny of their own lobbying, as Norges Bank Investment Management's early-2026 review of 1,200 portfolio companies' climate policy engagement shows.