ISS Releases 2021 U.S. Proxy Season Climate-Related Voting Trends Report

Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS), the leading provider of corporate governance and responsible investment solutions to the global financial community, today released 2021 U.S. Proxy Season Climate-Related Voting Trends : Proxy Voting in the Anthropocene, a timely new report on investor voting trends in light of the recently released Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), ahead of Climate Week NYC and COP26.

The report draws on ISS’ rich data and research expertise on rapidly-evolving climate governance issues.

Georgina Marshall, Managing Director, Global Head of Research at ISS said: “The 2021 U.S. proxy voting season marked an escalation of shareholder engagement on climate-related issues and an expansion of investor voting approaches.”

Key Takeaways:

• The 2021 U.S. proxy voting season marked an escalation of shareholder engagement on climate-related issues as well as an expansion of tactics.

• Investors are moving beyond requests for disclosure to voting against directors for perceived failures of climate risk mitigation.

• The 2021 season saw the advent of the Say-On-Climate proposal, an attempt to secure a dedicated ballot item that would enable investors to express views on a company’s management of climate-related risks on a recurring basis.

• The number of climate-related shareholder proposals as well as levels of support have grown over the past 3 years.

• The recent IPCC AR6 Synthesis report and 2021 US Proxy Season trends demonstrate that the days of regarding climate disclosure and risk as “non-financial” niche issues targeted by a relatively small number of activists and NGOs are over. 

To download a copy of the full report, please click here.