Below are key takeaways from ISS’ recently released report titled In Focus: Shareholder Proposals in the 2024 U.S. Proxy Season. The full report is available to institutional subscribers by logging into ProxyExchange then selecting the Governance Exchange and its Report Center tab and to corporate subscribers by logging into Governance Analytics then selecting the Governance Exchange and the Report Center tab.
If you are not a subscriber, you can download a copy of the full report here.
- The volume of governance-related shareholder proposals at U.S. companies has fallen slightly in each year since 2021.
- As of June 15, 2024, over 380 environmental and social (E&S) shareholder resolutions and 210 governance resolutions have appeared on U.S. company ballots this year.
- Since 2017, E&S-related resolutions have accounted for a majority of the shareholder proposals submitted, outnumbering traditional governance-related proposals.
- Proxy season 2024 has witnessed a precipitous drop in average shareholder support levels for E&S resolutions as well as a low number of majority-supported resolutions.
- There was also a continued uptick in so-called “anti-ESG” proposals. This recap summarizes key shareholder proposal trends in this year’s U.S. proxy season.
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By: Kathy Belyeu, Marc Goldstein
