Georgeson’s “An Early Look at the 2022 Proxy Season” (free download) summarizes submission, withdrawal, and voting trends at Russell 3000 companies for key environmental and social shareholder proposals and director elections for the 2022 proxy season through May 16.
Key takeaways include:
- Although the number of ESG shareholder proposals submitted increased more than 10% year-over-year (924 proposals submitted through May 16), shareholder support for the 137 voted shareholder E&S proposals declined significantly, from 35% of environmental proposals and 18% of social proposals receiving majority shareholder support in the 2021 proxy season, to 20% support and 9% support for environmental and social proposals, respectively, this season-to-date.
- The 10 social shareholder proposals that have passed are shown here:
- Four of the six environmental shareholder proposals that have passed as of the date of the report requested emissions reduction strategies or targets that include Scope 3 emissions. Of 56 such Scope 3-related proposals, 12 have been voted (so, 8 of those voted did not pass) and 31 have been withdrawn. Of the four proposals that passed, one was supported by management and another had no management recommendation one way or the other.
- John Chevedden continues to be the most prolific shareholder proponent by a wide margin, as shown below; however, Georgeson also notes the apparent increased collaboration and coordination among proponents (including ESG investors/advocates As You Sow and The Shareholder Commons) believed to have been prompted, at least in part, by the SEC’s September 2020 amendments to the procedural requirements under Rule 14a-8 that limit proponent proposal submissions to one per meeting.
- The number of governance proposals filed actually declined by 10% year-over-year. Of the 19% of proposals voted that have passed (28 passed of 149 voted), seven relate to special meetings.
See Georgeson’s release; “ESG Shareholder Proposals Spike in 2022 but Garner 'Muted' Support, Report Says” (Corporate Counsel); and additional resources on our Proxy & Annual Reporting Season 2022 page.
This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!