Climate Shareholder Proposals: A More Sophisticated Discourse
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 […]
Subodh Mishra is Global Head of Communications at ISS STOXX. This post is based on an ISS-Corporate memorandum by Kosmas Papadopoulos, Head of Sustainability Advisory-Americas, at ISS-Corporate.
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 engagements , 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.
