2023 ESG Proxy Vote Alerts

Reproductive Rights – Net Zero – New SEC Rules

WELCOME TO WEEK 1 (May 1 - 5, 2023) OF PROXY PREVIEW’S ESG PROXY VOTE ALERTS.

It is shaping up to be another record-breaking year for ESG shareholder resolutions, with now more than 600 resolutions filed and 300 or more still pending for votes as of late April.

For those new to our proxy season alerts, over the next six weeks we will highlight a selection of upcoming ESG proxy votes at both well-known and lesser known companies. This is not meant to be a comprehensive proxy vote list – our goal is to help educate shareholders about critical issues and new resolutions.

This week we start with a look at reproductive rights and reproductive health care as the number of resolutions on this highly charged issue has doubled this year.

We also look at two climate change resolutions. The bottom line to any climate solution is reducing greenhouse gases (GHG) and our first resolution concerns methane – arguably the most harmful greenhouse gas; and a second resolution focuses on the need for setting a Net Zero target.

We also highlight some of the new SEC rules that shape both current and future shareholder resolutions.

Reproductive Rights

Companies are facing legal, regulatory and reputational risk as they try to navigate the competing views on abortion rights, with an expanding array of restrictions at the state level made possible by the Dobbs Supreme Court ruling last June.  This resolution asks companies to report on known or potential risks and costs to the company from new state policies. For instance, how will companies that offer comprehensive reproductive health care coverage still manage this in a state that has banned abortion? Will it affect hiring or retention, facility expansion or relocation, public advocacy or political spending?

Methane Measurement

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas with a global warming potential 80 times that of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period and it’s responsible for around 30 percent of global temperature rise. There is a big debate about how much methane is currently being released. Most companies rely on estimated emissions and a new resolution is asking companies to take direct measurements for more accurate data.

Net-Zero Goals

In March, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – the world’s leading authority on the climate crisis – gave its strongest warning yet on what it called the “climate time bomb.” Keeping temperature increases below the Paris Agreement’s target of 1.5C will require reaching net-zero GHG emissions by 2050 ­– and that requires a 60% GHG reduction by 2035 – a target that few companies have committed to. The resolution asks the company to provide a net-zero timeline and a transition plan. 

New SEC Rules

The Biden administration has begun to remove Trump era limits on what shareholders can ask of companies and changed the conditions under which they may be challenged under SEC rules. Fewer resolutions are being omitted. New climate disclosure rules also may make GHG reporting and reduction a standard part of corporate reporting.  Not surprisingly, this has led to a fierce political and corporate backlash from some quarters.

 

Reminder: The VOTING DEADLINE for all U.S. companies is midnight Eastern Time on the DAY BEFORE the AGM.
Look for our Proxy Vote Alerts every week. Have a great proxy season!