Businesses are being urged to take part in a consultation on ways corporate air pollution can be tackled through investor action.

The consultation is being launched by investment management firm CCLA and Guy’s & St Thomas’ Foundation, which is also calling on academics, charities and investors to take part.

Their views will be used to produce a report with recommendations for corporate action on air pollution.

It hopes to develop a benchmark for corporates on pollution “aimed at creating transparent comparisons of companies managing of air pollution, alongside a structured investor engagement initiative”, say the hospital charity and investment management firm.

The consultation opens this week and runs until mid-December.

“Healthy businesses, and by extension strong investment returns, require healthy communities and a thriving environment,” said CCLA director of stewardship Amy Browne.

“Air pollution threatens both human and planetary health and is a sustainability blind spot for many investors.”

She added: “Our aim is to mobilise the investment community into action and to bring down the level of toxic pollution in the air that we breathe, the communities in which we live and in the habitats that produce our food and protect nature’s bounty.”

CCLA and Guy’s & St Thomas’ Foundation cite recent research into the impact of air pollution including Health Effects Institute findings that air pollution is the second leading global risk factor for death after high blood pressure. It is now more of a risk than tobacco use and poor diet, the Institute found.

Also, around 3.8bn working days will be lost due to air pollution by 2060, according to the World Economic Forum.

Guy’s & St Thomas’ Foundation’s endowment investment engagement director Matt Lomas said: “The air we breathe matters for all of us. Air quality should be a concern for investors given the impact poor air quality has on people, planet and increasingly businesses as companies’ contributions become more understood.

“We know that by working together as investors we can work with companies to reduce their negative impacts on the environment and health.

“Alongside CCLA we are calling on investors and businesses to come together to put air pollution on their sustainability agendas.

“We believe that via collaboration we can take meaningful action, and in doing so, have a significant positive impact for people and planet as well as business resilience.”

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