Proxy Monitor 2016 — Finding 2: Environmental Issues

As June draws to a close, so does corporate America’s 2016 proxy season, when most large publicly traded companies hold annual meetings; at these meetings, corporate shareholders cast votes on ballot items—typically by proxy—considering questions placed on ballots distributed under rules promulgated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. As in 2015, a plurality of shareholder proposals in 2016 have involved environmental concerns, including climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, “sustainability,” recycling, water quality, genetically modified organisms, fossil fuels, nuclear power, and methane emissions. 

• The average shareholder vote for environment-related proposals is up somewhat in 2016, to 21 percent, from 17 percent in 2015 (and 15 percent across the full 2006–16 period).
• For all years covered in the Proxy Monitor database (2006 to the present), not a single environment-related shareholder proposal has received majority shareholder support over board opposition.
• Five environment-related shareholder proposals received at least 40 percent shareholder support (a record number); four of these five proposals involved climate change or greenhouse gas emissions.

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