Below is an excerpt from ISS-Corporate’s recently released article “Climate Shareholder Proposals: A More Sophisticated Discourse”. The full article is available on the ISS-Corporate online library.
Shareholder proposals offer a glimpse into investor and market sentiment on key corporate governance issues, including how companies are managing environmental and social impacts, risks, and opportunities. The topic of climate features prominently in shareholder proposal campaigns, as it remains a key priority for policymakers, investors, and corporate boards. ISS-Corporate analyzed shareholder proposals and voting results data from the past decade to discern key trends in voting patterns among investors as well as the underlying dynamics that may affect voting in relation to climate change-related engagements between companies and their shareholders. The analysis finds that climate-related shareholder proposals continue to rank high on the agenda of shareholder engagement, but these discussions are becoming more nuanced, as corporate disclosures and climate-related practices evolve and continue to improve. At the same time, investors appear to be taking a more targeted approach in dealing with these topics from a stewardship and voting perspective.
By: Kosmas Papadopoulos, Head of Sustainability Advisory – Americas, ISS-Corporate
