Harold Clive Mather (born 19 September 1947) is an English oilman and company director. From 2004 to 2007 he served as the president of Shell Canada. Mather is currently the chairman of the Church of England Pensions Board.
Biography
He is Chair of the Church of England Pensions Board having been appointed by General Synod on 20 February 2019. The Pensions Board provides pensions, housing and retirement services for those who have served or worked for the Church. It serves over 40,000 people across almost 700 employers and manages funds in excess of £2.8 billion. The Board actively engages with companies in which it is invested and is committed to managing its funds in a way that reflects the Church's teaching and values. It is the only pension provider offering schemes that fully comply with the Church of England ethical investment policies. Climate change is a systemic risk to all long-term investors. Both an ethical and financial issue, it is a critical focus of the Board's investment approach across all asset classes as well as our engagement with companies. A key tool in this is the Transition Pathway Initiative (TPI) which CEPB continues to jointly chair with the Environment Agency Pensions Fund. TPI assesses companies’ preparedness for transition to a low-carbon economy and is backed by investors with over $18 trillion in AUM. It has developed a new Paris aligned, passive global equity index with FTSE and the LSE which was launched on 30 January 2020, which directly incorporates assessments of companies under TPI. The Church of England Pensions Board is a leading, activist investor and works with many other Funds around the world through coalitions like Climate Change 100+ in order to leverage its influence and impact. Climate Action 100+ is an investor initiative to ensure the world's largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters take necessary action on climate change. The companies include 100 ‘systemically important emitters’, accounting for two-thirds of annual global industrial emissions, alongside more than 60 others with significant opportunity to drive the clean energy transition. To date, more than 500 investors with more than USD $47 trillion in assets under management have signed on to the initiative.
He serves as a Director of Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA) which works to develop and commercialise technologies which will reduce carbon and other GHG emissions in Canada and beyond; to stimulate technical innovation in order to enhance the capacity and reputation of the Province; and to protect and grow the economy, through greater diversity, skilling up and employment.
He is a Trustee of Emmaus Road Community Church in Guildford, UK. Emmaus Road is a growing, multi site church with congregations in and around Guildford, Woking and Aldershot. As the European hub for the 24-7 Prayer movement the church connects with thousands of others from around the world at the Wildfires Festival in Spring and the 24-7 Prayer Gathering in Autumn.
He is the Chair of Relational Peacebuilding Initiatives (RPI) based in Geneva, working to bring relational solutions to long standing conflict situations in various parts of the world. The current main focus is the Korean Peninsula. After 70 years of bitter division, North and South Korea have now begun political talks aimed at replacing recrimination with co-operation. What is needed is a parallel process which will bring economic growth and social transformation to the whole Peninsula. RPI is already working behind the scenes to develop a partnership model that will enable North and South to agree together the values, goals and priorities in each of the main sectors of society. This is vital if economic progress is to be demonstrated in the short-term and the possibility of peaceful unification nurtured for the future.