Sustainable Finance Lobbying Overview: T. Rowe Price appears to have had mixed engagement with sustainable finance policies in the US and Europe, generally advocating for less ambitious disclosure policy and opposing rules that limit the use of ESG factors in decision-making.

Top-Line Messaging on Sustainable Finance: T. Rowe Price has recognized the systemic risk climate change poses to the financial system but has asserted that real economy regulation is needed to address this risk. In April 2022, T. Rowe Price joined the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative, supporting action to limit global temperature rise to 1.5C. In its 2019 Annual Report, T. Rowe Price stated concern about “overly prescriptive” ESG regulations. In a 2022 white paper, T. Rowe Price asserted that sustainable finance regulation needed to be coupled with real economy climate change policy in order to be effective.

Position on Regulated Corporate ESG Disclosure: T. Rowe Price has taken mixed positions on regulated corporate ESG disclosure. In its 2020 ESG Report, T. Rowe Price stated support for ESG disclosure regulation but voiced concern about countries taking different approaches to policy and creating a lack of global alignment. In September 2021 comments to the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), T. Rowe Price generally supported policy to improve ESG disclosure by asset managers and certain other financial institutions but did not support mandating disclosure of product-level scenario analysis. In response to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) request for input on climate change disclosures in June 2021, T. Rowe Price stated support for mandatory disclosure in line with TCFD recommendations and Scopes 1, 2 and some Scope 3 greenhouse gas disclosures. However, after the SEC released its proposed climate disclosure rule in June 2022, T. Rowe Price raised concerns with the proposed Scopes 1 and 2 disclosure requirements, and did not support mandating Scope 3 disclosure. In comments to the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) in July 2022, T. Rowe Price did not support proposed Scope 3 disclosure requirements and outlined objections to the ISSB’s proposed governance reporting requirements.

Position on Taxonomies and ESG Standards/Labels/Benchmarks: In comments to the FCA in January 2023, T. Rowe Price opposed the development of a UK Taxonomy, stating that it would lead to the government picking “winners.”

In its 2021 Annual Report, T. Rowe Price asserted that it was a “vocal advocate” of ESG standard setting in the policy space. In January 2023, T. Rowe Price supported, with exceptions, the FCA’s proposed sustainable product labels. In August 2022 comments to the SEC, T. Rowe Price supported the Commission’s proposed ESG fund categories and advocated for the retention of the ‘Integration Fund’ category, but did not support a requirement for these funds to disclose how they consider portfolio greenhouse gas emissions. T. Rowe Price did not support the SEC’s August 2022 proposed extension of the Investment Company Names rule to funds with certain investment strategies, including ESG strategies, but the bulk of its opposition focused on funds with names like ‘growth’ and ‘value’ rather than ESG-related terms.

Position on Incorporating ESG Factors Into Investor Duties: In 2020, T. Rowe Price opposed Department of Labor rules that sought to limit ESG investing and shareholder rights. In 2021, T. Rowe Price strongly supported the rollback of these rules and advocated for further permission to consider “participant preference,” including ESG preferences, in decision-making. In May 2022 however, T. Rowe Price did not support the Department taking further action to require fiduciaries to consider climate risk in decision-making.

Position on Incorporating ESG Factors Into Risk Management/Prudential Regulation: In an October 2021 insights report, T. Rowe Price appeared to support efforts to require climate risk disclosure from banks, specifically the European Banking Authority’s proposed new Pillar 3 requirements for disclosing ESG risks.

Industry Association Governance: T. Rowe Price has disclosed most of its industry association memberships but has not given details of the sustainable finance policy positions of these groups or actions taken to influence policy engagement.