An increasing number of shareholders are asking corporations to rethink the way they influence politics.
Shareholders also want corporate political activity to be more transparent, judging by the resolutions they have filed with corporations this year. The resolutions will be voted on by shareholders during the upcoming proxy voting season this spring.
Climate change and corporations’ responses to it also are of primary importance to shareholders, according to the 2020 Proxy Preview report released Thursday. The report on the resolutions was compiled by As You Sow, Proxy Impact and other consumer advocacy organizations.
A total of 429 shareholder resolutions have been filed, an increase from the 366 voted on last year but a decrease from the nearly 500 filed in 2017. The number of resolutions that are put up for a vote by shareholders could change if the companies and shareholder advocates negotiate settlements.
As of the third week in February when the report was compiled, resolutions on the environment, represented mostly by climate change issues, made up 21% of the resolutions, and corporate political activity made up another 18% of resolutions. Other issues that shareholders want addressed are corporation board diversity and oversight, decent work, human rights, sustainability and diversity in the workplace.
A shift is taking place in the corporate community from work that only serves profit margins to work that takes into account corporations’ responsibilities to the community at large, which has come to be known as “stakeholder capitalism,” according to Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow.
The resolutions are being filed at a time when the Securities and Exchange Commission is considering changes in regulations affecting who can file resolutions. As You Sow and other advocacy groups have said the changes, if enacted, will severely limit who can file resolutions and will prevent smaller groups of shareholders from making their wishes known. New rules are expected to be announced in April.
For this proxy season, climate change is once again the dominant environmental topic. The topic of climate change also undergirds many other issues shareholders are raising, according to the report. In all, there are 93 proposals about the environment, and climate change makes up 64 of them. Among the requests, shareholders want to know how companies plan to address carbon asset risks and what they are doing to retool for a low-carbon economy.
On social issues, five resolutions are concerned with disparities between high CEO pay and pay for other workers. About two dozen resolutions ask for information on global median gender pay disparities.
Shareholders have filed 49 resolutions asking for diversity on boards of directors.