Shareholder Expectations on Climate: Insights from the 2024 Proxy Season
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Shareholder Voting

Shareholder Expectations on Climate: Insights from the 2024 Proxy Season

16 December 2024 / Report

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Climate remained a central focus of environmental shareholder proposals in the 2024 proxy season, although investor support has become more selective and resolutions seeking to limit or roll back corporate commitments have increased. This report analyzes climate-focused shareholder proposals at Russell 3000 companies, covering core focus areas, major sponsors and target industries, shifts in investor support, and potential future trends in climate activism.

Key Insights

  • Climate-related proposals, including an increasing number from anti-ESG filers, accounted for about 70% of all environmental submissions to US public companies in 2024, reflecting sustained investor focus both positive and negative.
  • More than half of all climate proposals focused on emissions targets, climate transition plans, and emissions disclosures, with industrial and financial sectors most targeted.
  • Shareholder support for climate proposals is declining, even when excluding anti-ESG filers from the analysis—with major institutional investors increasingly selective about backing what they perceive to be prescriptive resolutions.
  • As climate-related shareholder activism loses traction, companies in high-exposure industries such as industrials and financials should brace for investor pressure through other means such as potential increased litigation on climate issues.

Climate remained a central focus of environmental shareholder proposals in the 2024 proxy season, although investor support has become more selective and resolutions seeking to limit or roll back corporate commitments have increased. This report analyzes climate-focused shareholder proposals at Russell 3000 companies, covering core focus areas, major sponsors and target industries, shifts in investor support, and potential future trends in climate activism.

Key Insights

  • Climate-related proposals, including an increasing number from anti-ESG filers, accounted for about 70% of all environmental submissions to US public companies in 2024, reflecting sustained investor focus both positive and negative.
  • More than half of all climate proposals focused on emissions targets, climate transition plans, and emissions disclosures, with industrial and financial sectors most targeted.
  • Shareholder support for climate proposals is declining, even when excluding anti-ESG filers from the analysis—with major institutional investors increasingly selective about backing what they perceive to be prescriptive resolutions.
  • As climate-related shareholder activism loses traction, companies in high-exposure industries such as industrials and financials should brace for investor pressure through other means such as potential increased litigation on climate issues.
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Author

Andrew Jones, PhD

Andrew Jones, PhD Andrew Jones, PhD

Senior Researcher, ESG Center
The Conference Board

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