* Pension fund HESTA proposes new candidates to Woodside

* Woodside eyeing 15% reduction in scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2025

March 12 (Reuters) - HESTA, one of Australia's largest pension funds, has urged the country's largest oil and gas firm Woodside Energy to consider appointing new directors who are equipped to manage climate-related challenges, it said on Tuesday.

The fund pushed the energy giant's board to undertake its own due diligence of HESTA's listed and other potential director candidates with similar skills, through its existing internal processes.

HESTA, which owns 0.8% stake in Woodside as of March 8, said ongoing strong governance, culture and capabilities are required for the company to support the energy transition.

"As part of this engagement, we shared with Woodside for their consideration, independent and highly credentialed potential director candidates, whose new energy and business transformation skills we believe would add to the board’s current capabilities," HESTA said in a statement.

Woodside has been facing opposition from environmental groups and activist investors over their climate goals and massive investment into growth projects.

"We have engaged extensively and listened carefully to feedback from our shareholders, who have asked for more detailed information about our climate action plans and the role of gas in a lower carbon world," Woodside CEO Meg O'Neill said at an investor briefing on Tuesday.

HESTA, that manages assets worth about A$81 billion (about $54 billion), said it believes Woodside should prioritise adding new energy and business transformation skills to its board.

Woodside, one of Australia’s largest carbon emitters, is targeting a 15% reduction to its net equity scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 2025, and is planning new measures to curb scope 3 pollution.

The move by HESTA is a latest sign of pension funds trying to flex their muscles to influence board-level decisions at companies and comes months after AustralianSuper, the country's largest pension fund, blocked Brookfield's take-private bid for Origin Energy.

($1 = 1.5129 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Neha Soni; Editing by Varun H K and Mrigank Dhaniwala)