Climate Change Data

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Board Diversity
• Executive Compensation
• Environmental Sustainability
• Climate Change
• Political Spending
• Lobbying
• Shareholder Rights

Environmental Achievements

• Successfully negotiated withdrawal of a sustainability reporting proposal at SBA Communications, securing a commitment to basic sustainability reporting and ongoing dialogue.
• Signed on to over 75 letters and statements to companies requesting specific climate and environmental disclosures and action, including setting science-based targets for greenhouse gas emissions.

Social Achievements

• Successfully negotiated withdrawal of board diversity proposals at Masimo and Cambrex, leading to increased board diversity commitments.
• Engaged with companies on executive team diversity, resulting in some companies disclosing EEO-1 diversity reports and committing to not discriminating against LGBT employees.

Governance Achievements

• Voted against over 40% of nominating committee board members due to lack of gender and racial diversity and against almost 50% of compensation committee board members due to excessive executive compensation.
• Filed shareholder resolutions on political spending disclosure and lobbying efforts, achieving significant support levels in some cases and securing favorable agreements leading to withdrawals in others.

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• SEC proposed rulemaking that would increase filing thresholds for shareholder proposals, curtailing the ability to effectively represent clients.
• Reluctance of some companies to address material ESG concerns.
• Failure of large institutional investors to support proposals addressing critical ESG issues.

Mitigation Strategies

• Submitted critical comments on the SEC proposed rulemaking.
• Engaged in dialogue and negotiations with companies to address concerns.
• Filed shareholder resolutions and partnered with other investors and organizations to exert pressure.

Supply Chain Management

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

UN Sustainable Development Goals

• SDG 5 (Gender Equality)
• SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production)
• SDG 13 (Climate Action)
• SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions)

The report details how their advocacy efforts align with these SDGs through initiatives related to board diversity, sustainable packaging, climate action, and shareholder rights.

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Climate Change
• Social Justice
• Governance
• Human Rights
• Environmental Issues

Environmental Achievements

• Withdrawal of proposals at Tractor Supply, Citi, and Kroger following commitments to improved environmental disclosures and practices. Tractor Supply committed to comprehensive disclosure in accordance with TCFD recommendations, hired a Director of Sustainability, set aggressive Scope 1 and 2 emissions, and agreed to review Scope 3 target setting. Citi agreed to adopt no-deforestation standards for soy clients and develop a no-deforestation approach for high-risk beef clients. Kroger provided an update on progress regarding pesticide use.
• Advocacy for a global treaty on plastic pollution, participation in the Global Investor Statement demanding enhanced climate action, and advocacy for the inclusion of Scope 3 emissions in SEC climate disclosure rule.
• 3M committed to stop producing PFAS by the end of 2025 following a letter campaign.

Social Achievements

• Johnson & Johnson agreed to conduct a civil rights audit following a shareholder proposal with 62.6% support.
• Travelers committed to full transparency on lobbying conducted by trade associations.
• McDonalds committed to dialogue regarding reduction of medically important antibiotics in their supply chain.
• Apple committed to conducting a racial equity audit.
• Republic Services committed to undertaking a civil rights audit including environmental justice elements.

Governance Achievements

• SEC sided with investors regarding Amazon's request to omit a shareholder proposal asking for country-by-country tax reporting.
• Travelers committed to full transparency on lobbying conducted by trade associations following a shareholder proposal with majority support.

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• Rise of anti-ESG shareholder proposals targeting diversity initiatives and lobbying disclosures.
• Obstruction of climate disclosures by companies and trade associations.

Mitigation Strategies

• Active engagement with companies and investors to counter anti-ESG proposals. Most investors agreed that there is a strong business case to be made for a diverse employee base and sensible lobbying disclosure and practice, and these anti-ESG proposals are not receiving broad support.
• Advocacy for the inclusion of Scope 3 emissions in SEC climate disclosure rule and strong investor support for climate disclosures.

Supply Chain Management

Responsible Procurement

• Engagement with companies to improve sustainable agricultural practices (e.g., Mondelez).

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: TCFD, GRI

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Climate Change
• Human and Workers' Rights

Environmental Achievements

• Supported 88% of climate and environmental proposals, significantly above the industry average of 21%

Social Achievements

• Supported 88% of social proposals, exceeding the industry average of 18%
• Influenced companies like Disney to enhance disclosures on chemicals management and develop a strategy to reduce priority chemicals in 2023 (through Trillium)

Governance Achievements

• Supported 80% of governance proposals, compared to the industry average of 29%
• Actively engaged with companies to improve board diversity

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• Low support for say-on-pay proposals (32% vs. industry average of 88%)

Mitigation Strategies

• Benchmarking proxy voting guidelines against industry averages to identify areas for improvement

Supply Chain Management

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities