EOS 2023 Annual Review

2023 was the hottest year on record, with Canadian wildfires turning Manhattan skies a sulphurous yellow, a fatal firestorm in Hawaii, and Europe’s relentless Cerberus heatwave. The latter caused heat-related deaths among workers in southern Europe, and forced holidaymakers to flee resorts. The climate crisis is here, and engagement remains vital to help steward companies through the low carbon transition.

In EOS’s 2023 Annual Review of its engagement activities and voting recommendations, engager Will Farrell examines the next phase for collaborative engagement initiative Climate Action 100+, which will seek to drive greater company ambition. Justin Bazalgette and Joanne Beatty also take a closer look at climate-aligned accounting, given the ongoing disconnect between companies’ net-zero targets and how they account for climate risk within their financial reporting.

Inflation continued to pressure household budgets in 2023, prompting an intensification of industrial disputes in the UK and Europe, and new flashpoints in the US and Japan. Major strikes by US autoworkers and UK rail workers, and a strong push to establish unions in the US, characterised the fight for higher wages and better terms and conditions. US engagers Emily DeMasi and Velika Talyarkhan examine some of the key disputes and explain why maintaining good employee relations makes good business sense.

In addition, Sonya Likhtman and Zoe de Spoelberch give an update on EOS’s leading natural resource stewardship work, and there is a comprehensive look back at the voting season. We also highlight changes to our vote policies for the upcoming 2024 proxy season.

To find out more, read the EOS 2023 Annual Review.