In her new role, Laura Moss-Bromage will develop a coherent strategy focusing on climate change, nature loss and social inequality.

The Church Commissioners for England has appointed Laura Moss-Bromage as Planet Lead – a new role created as the organisation looks to bolster engagement with companies and policymakers on climate change and biodiversity.

“My responsibilities will be designing and implementing the fund’s nature strategy as well as driving our environmental engagement initiatives,” Moss-Bromage told ESG Investor. “As I build out the fund’s nature strategy, a core pillar will be understanding the climate and nature impacts of the portfolio, which will then shape our future environmental stewardship priorities.”

The Church Commissioners is already involved in a number of environmental engagement initiatives, including Climate Action 100+, Nature Action 100, Finance Sector Deforestation Action, Investor Policy Dialogue on Deforestation, and the Investor Initiative on Responsible Nickel Supply Chains – facilitated by the Investors for Sustainable Development (VBDO) and Rainforest Foundation Norway.

As part of her new role, Moss-Bromage will design and drive the Church Commissioners’ portfolio-wide biodiversity strategy and lead on nature and climate-related stewardship initiatives.

“The Church Commissioners views engagement as one of the most important levers to drive real-world change,” she said. “I will be revamping our climate change engagement strategy to focus engagement efforts on companies that we believe will genuinely play an important role in the transition.”

Corporate activity has been a major driver of both climate change and nature loss, so engaging with companies to reduce their impact and influence positive change has been a priority, Moss-Bromage explained.

Engaging with industry bodies and policymakers can also be an effective lever, as it helps to provide companies with a policy environment that is “stable and supportive from a sustainability perspective,” she added.

Last June, the Church of England Pensions Board (CoEPB) and Church Commissioners announced they were divesting from oil and gas firms – including BP, ExxonMobil, Shell and Total – due to their failure to align with climate goals. The latter had previously excluded 20 oil and gas majors from its investment portfolio.

“Over the past few years, we’ve seen significant commitments made by organisations and now it is time to focus on the actions that will really lead to transformative outcomes,” said Moss-Bromage. “That will be