Managing climate and ESG risk: Border to Coast publishes Proxy Voting Report
Posted on December 17th, 2024
- 87% of Environmental Shareholder Proposals supported.
- 82% of Social Shareholder Proposals supported.
- 92% of Oil and Gas Chair re-elections opposed.
- 44% of company ‘Say on Climate’ votes opposed as insufficient.
Border to Coast Pensions Partnership has today published its Proxy Voting Report 2024. The report details Border to Coast’s voting activity during the 2024 AGM season, including how its updated climate voting policy has been put into practice.
Ahead of the 2024 AGM season, Border to Coast adopted a new policy to vote in favour of shareholder proposals aligned with the Paris climate agreement, taking a ‘comply or explain’ approach. It subsequently supported 21 such votes and opposed five with rationale provided. Border to Coast also extended its voting policy on Board accountability to cover decarbonisation strategy and voted against the chair of the board where a company covered by Climate Action 100+ failed indicators covering their decarbonisation strategy in addition to emission reduction targets. As a result, Border to Coast voted against the re-election of the chair at 92% of Oil and Gas holdings during 2024. It also opposed 44% of management ‘Say on Climate’ votes which were not aligned with the Paris climate agreement.
“Now is the time to be escalating engagement with companies that are failing to adequately manage climate risk. As a long-term responsible investor, we wish to see long term value in the companies in which we invest. That means putting quality transition plans in place to mitigate the risks and seize the opportunities presented. Proxy voting is one of the most influential means at the disposal of investors engaging for this outcome. It is therefore essential that voting is aligned with commitments to the Paris climate agreement and net zero. Failure to align voting sends very mixed messages to companies and undermines other engagement activity investors may be party to.”
Border to Coast voting policy also requires 40% female representation on UK boards, 33% on the boards of developed markets companies, and at least one female director in emerging markets. During 2024, Border to Coast voted against the chair of the nomination committee or the chair of the board at 72 companies for failure to meet these diversity thresholds.
Read the full report here.
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