In the past, shareholder votes on the environment were rare and easily brushed aside. Things could look different in the annual meeting season starting next month, when companies are set to face the most investor resolutions tied to climate change in years.
Those votes are likely to win more support than in previous years from large asset managers seeking clarity on how executives plan to adapt and prosper in a low-carbon world, according to interviews with more than a dozen activist investors and fund managers.
In the US, shareholders have filed 79 climate-related resolutions so far, compared with 72 for all of last year and 67 in 2019, data compiled by the Sustainable Investments Institute showed.
Illustration: Mountain People
The institute estimated the count could reach 90 this year.
Topics to be put to a vote at annual general meetings (AGMs) include calls for emissions limits, pollution reports and “climate audits” that show the financial impact of climate change on their businesses.
A broad theme is to press corporations across sectors, from oil and transport to food and drink, to detail how they plan to reduce their carbon footprints in coming years, in line with government pledges to cut emissions to net zero by 2050.
“Net-zero targets for 2050 without a credible plan, including short-term targets, is greenwashing, and shareholders must hold them to account,” said billionaire British hedge fund manager Chris Hohn, who is pushing companies worldwide to hold a recurring shareholder vote on their climate plans.
Many companies say they already provide plenty of information about climate issues. Yet some activists say they see signs more executives are in a dealmaking mood this year.
Royal Dutch Shell on Feb. 11 said that it would become the first oil and gas major to offer such a vote, following similar announcements from Spanish airports operator Aena, UK consumer goods company Unilever and US rating agency Moody’s.
While most resolutions are non-binding, they often spur changes, with even 30 percent or more support as executives look to satisfy as many investors as possible.
“The demands for increased disclosure and target-setting are much more pointed than they were in 2020,” said Daniele Vitale, the London-based head of governance for Georgeson, which advises corporations on shareholder views.
While more companies are issuing net-zero targets for 2050, in line with goals set out in the 2015 Paris climate accord, few have published interim targets.
A study from sustainability consultancy South Pole (www.southpole.com/news/survey-just-1-in-10-businesses-have-backed-up-net-zero-ambitions-with-science-based-targets) showed just 10 percent of 120 companies it polled, from varied sectors, had done so.
“There’s too much ambiguity and lack of clarity on the exact journey and route that companies are going to take, and how quickly we can actually expect movement,” said Mirza Baig, head of investment stewardship at Aviva Investors.
Data analysis from Swiss bank J Safra Sarasin show the scale of the collective challenge.
Sarasin studied the emissions of the roughly 1,500 firms in the MSCI World Index, a broad proxy for the world’s listed companies. It calculated that if companies globally did not curb their emissions rate, they would raise global temperatures by more than 3°C by 2050.
That is well short of the Paris accord goal of limiting warming to “well below” 2°C, preferably 1.5°C.
At an industry level, there are large differences, the study found: If every company emitted at the same level as the energy sector, for example, the temperature rise would be 5.8°C, with the materials sector — including metals and mining — on course for 5.5°C and consumer staples — including food and drink — 4.7°C.
The calculations are mostly based on companies’ reported emissions levels in 2019, the latest full year analyzed, and cover Scope 1 and 2 emissions — those caused directly by a company, plus the production of the electricity it buys and uses.
Sectors with high carbon emissions are likely to face the most investor pressure for clarity.
Last month, for example, ExxonMobil — long an energy industry laggard in setting climate goals — disclosed its scope 3 emissions, those connected to use of its products.
This prompted the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) to withdraw a shareholder resolution seeking the information.
Simiso Nzima, the head of corporate governance for the US$444 billion CalPERS pension fund, said that he saw this year as a promising year for climate concerns, with a higher likelihood of other companies also reaching agreements with activist investors.
“You’re seeing a tailwind in terms of climate change,” Nzima said.
However, Exxon has asked the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for permission to skip votes on four other shareholder proposals, three related to climate matters, according to filings with the regulator.
It cited reasons such as the company having already “substantially implemented” reforms.
An Exxon spokesman said it had ongoing discussions with its stakeholders, which led to the emissions disclosure.
He declined to comment on the requests to skip votes, as did the SEC, which had not yet ruled on Exxon’s requests as of late Tuesday.
Given the influence of large shareholders, activists are hoping for more from BlackRock, the world’s biggest investor with US$8.7 trillion under management, which has promised a tougher approach to climate issues.
Last week, BlackRock called for boards to come up with a climate plan, release emissions data and make robust short-term reduction targets, or risk seeing directors voted down at the AGM.
It backed a resolution at Procter & Gamble’s AGM, unusually held in October last year, which asked the company to report on efforts to eliminate deforestation in its supply chains, helping it pass with 68 percent support.
“It’s a crumb, but we hope it’s a sign of things to come” from BlackRock, said Kyle Kempf, spokesman for resolution sponsor Green Century Capital Management in Boston.
Asked for more details about its plans for this year, such as if it might support Hohn’s resolutions, a BlackRock spokesman referred to prior guidance that it would “follow a case-by-case approach in assessing each proposal on its merits.”
Amundi, Europe’s biggest asset manager, last week said that it, too, would back more resolutions.
Vanguard, the world’s second-biggest investor with US$7.1 trillion under management, seemed less certain.
Lisa Harlow, Vanguard’s stewardship leader for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, called it “really difficult to say” whether its support for climate resolutions this year would be higher than its traditional rate of backing one in 10.
Hohn, founder of the US$30 billion hedge fund TCI, aims to establish a regular mechanism to judge climate progress via annual shareholder votes.
In a “Say on Climate” resolution, investors ask a company to provide a detailed net zero plan, including short-term targets, and put it to an annual non-binding vote. If investors are not satisfied, they will then be in a stronger position to justify voting down directors, the plan holds.
Early signs suggest the drive is gaining momentum.
Hohn has already filed at least seven resolutions through TCI. The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, which Hohn founded, is working with campaign groups and asset managers to file more than 100 resolutions over the next two AGM seasons in the US, Europe, Canada, Japan and Australia.
“Of course, not all companies will support the Say on Climate,” Hohn told pension funds and insurance companies in November last year. “There will be fights, but we can win the votes.”
Additional reporting by Sonali Paul, Francesca Landini, Clara-Laeila Laudette and Shadia Nasralla
US President Donald Trump created some consternation in Taiwan last week when he told a news conference that a successful trade deal with China would help with “unification.” Although the People’s Republic of China has never ruled Taiwan, Trump’s language struck a raw nerve in Taiwan given his open siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression seeking to “reunify” Ukraine and Russia. On earlier occasions, Trump has criticized Taiwan for “stealing” the US’ chip industry and for relying too much on the US for defense, ominously presaging a weakening of US support for Taiwan. However, further examination of Trump’s remarks in
As strategic tensions escalate across the vast Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan has emerged as more than a potential flashpoint. It is the fulcrum upon which the credibility of the evolving American-led strategy of integrated deterrence now rests. How the US and regional powers like Japan respond to Taiwan’s defense, and how credible the deterrent against Chinese aggression proves to be, will profoundly shape the Indo-Pacific security architecture for years to come. A successful defense of Taiwan through strengthened deterrence in the Indo-Pacific would enhance the credibility of the US-led alliance system and underpin America’s global preeminence, while a failure of integrated deterrence would
It is being said every second day: The ongoing recall campaign in Taiwan — where citizens are trying to collect enough signatures to trigger re-elections for a number of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators — is orchestrated by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), or even President William Lai (賴清德) himself. The KMT makes the claim, and foreign media and analysts repeat it. However, they never show any proof — because there is not any. It is alarming how easily academics, journalists and experts toss around claims that amount to accusing a democratic government of conspiracy — without a shred of evidence. These
China on May 23, 1951, imposed the so-called “17-Point Agreement” to formally annex Tibet. In March, China in its 18th White Paper misleadingly said it laid “firm foundations for the region’s human rights cause.” The agreement is invalid in international law, because it was signed under threat. Ngapo Ngawang Jigme, head of the Tibetan delegation sent to China for peace negotiations, was not authorized to sign the agreement on behalf of the Tibetan government and the delegation was made to sign it under duress. After seven decades, Tibet remains intact and there is global outpouring of sympathy for Tibetans. This realization
RSS