Shareholders attempting to exercise their rights found themselves frustrated this vote season as recalcitrant companies pushed back on investor escalation. Meanwhile, proxy contests increased in the US following regulatory changes, allowing shareholders to consider dissident nominees alongside the company’s preferred options, with a high-profile three-way battle at Disney.
Biodiversity made a strong showing via resolutions on plastic pollution, deep sea mining, deforestation, pesticide use, microfibre pollution, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and animal welfare. We contributed to an industry opinion piece on this topic entitled Biodiversity is now on the ballot, are you ready? through the Finance for Biodiversity Engagement Working Group.
There were shareholder resolutions on plastics and circular packaging at chemical company Dow and at Tyson Foods. We recommended support for these on the grounds that pollution is one of the five drivers of biodiversity loss, and these are material risks for companies. We expect companies to increase circularity in their operations and reduce the production and use of plastics, which can end up in the environment or water sources and be detrimental to biodiversity.
At car manufacturers General Motors and Tesla, there were shareholder resolutions on sourcing minerals from deep-sea mining for the first time. We recommended support for both, as a commitment to a moratorium on deep-sea mining or a clarification on the companies’ positions, would signal that they acknowledge the importance of supply chain oversight as vehicle electrification accelerates. Many EV auto manufacturers have already signed up to the moratorium.
In Europe, Nestlé received a shareholder proposal to set a time-bound target to increase the proportion of its sales derived from healthier products. While we supported the broad aim of the proposal, following engagement we recommended voting against, because it appeared overly prescriptive. Also, the company has responded well to engagement since 2022, taking positive steps including a 2030 target to grow its sales of more nutritious products.
Read the full article in our Q2 2024 Public Engagement Report.
Disputes proliferate in fractious vote season
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