Statement on Preliminary Results of Clean Energy Supply Financing Ratio Shareholder Proposal at Bank of America and Goldman Sachs Annual General Meetings

 

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander released the following statement on the preliminary results of the New York City retirement systems’ first-time proposal requesting the disclosure of a clean energy supply financing ratio at Bank of America and Goldman Sachs.

“The climate crisis will not wait for us to get our act together. Strong results today send a wakeup call to the boards of Bank of America and Goldman Sachs that shareholders are paying close attention to ways they can measure their portfolio companies’ progress on the bold climate action to which they’ve committed.

“Three of the largest North American banks (JPMorgan Chase, Citi and the Royal Bank of Canada) have already agreed to disclose this important metric following engagement with my office. We expect this to become a standard disclosure for banks and an increasingly important tool for investors to evaluate a banks’ climate risk and climate commitments including the pace and scale of their financing of the energy transition.

“It is disappointing to see Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley drag their feet rather than join their peers who clearly understand the importance of this disclosure to investors. Given the urgency of the climate crisis and the need for a rapid transition, we are hopeful that they will take the necessary steps toward increasing transparency by providing investors with this decision-useful metric.”

The proposals requested annual disclosure of each banks’ ratio of clean energy supply financing to fossil fuel energy supply financing and their underlying methodology. This disclosure will allow long-term investors to better assess the role banks play in the climate transition, and whether they are on track to meet their emissions reduction commitments.

Today’s meeting follows the announcement of agreements New York City’s retirement systems recently reached with JPMorgan Chase, Citi and the Royal Bank of Canada to disclose this ratio.

Shareholders will have the opportunity to vote on this proposal at the upcoming Morgan Stanley Annual General Meeting on May 23rd and we encourage them to vote YES. Our presentation making the case for a vote in favor of the proposal is available here.