Pension systems secured historic climate wins, disclosures on company and boardroom diversity, and continued freedom of association advocacy
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and trustees of the five New York City retirement systems released the annual Shareholder Initiatives Postseason Report for the 2024 proxy voting season, ending on June 30, 2024. The report details the Office of the New York City Comptroller’s efforts to promote sound and responsible corporate governance practices at publicly traded portfolio companies on behalf of the Systems.
This year’s report comes amid the continued conservative backlash against the use of environment, social, and governance (ESG) factors in making investment decisions. Despite the messaging that using ESG hinders financial performance, strong results from the New York City retirement systems of net 10.0% for fiscal year 2024 prove that managing ESG risks, like any other financial risk, is critical to investment portfolio performance.
“Despite the challenging environment posed by misguided efforts to undermine investor freedom to consider ESG risks as part of their portfolio management, shareholder demand for transparency and accountability remains unwavering,” said New York City Comptroller Brad Lander. “In the face of these unprecedented attacks I am proud of the work my office has done on behalf of the five New York City pension funds to urge companies to implement sustainable business practices. Ignoring obligations to implement important safeguards jeopardizes their long-term value and reputation.”
This proxy season, the Systems achieved major wins on climate, efforts to protect workers during organizing efforts, and workplace safety. The Systems also reached agreements on 50% of submitted proposals after engagement and dialogue with portfolio companies, averting the need for a formal vote at the annual general meeting for each company. On behalf of the Systems, the Comptroller’s Office also led high-profile “vote no” campaigns to challenge problematic directors and corporate practices, including governance and compensation failures at Tesla and conflicts of interest at BlackRock.
The Comptroller’s Office reached historic agreements this season with three of the largest North American banks (Citi, JPMorgan and Royal Bank of Canada) to publicly disclose their financing ratio of low-carbon energy to fossil fuels. This is a critical step forward in establishing a new climate disclosure metric in the banking sector that equips investors with another valuable tool to better assess the role banks play in the climate transition.
The Office also continued engagement on behalf of the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, Teachers’ Retirement System, and Board of Education Retirement System with more than 100 of their highest-emitting portfolio companies, urging them to set independently validated, science-based GHG reduction targets.
The Comptroller’s Office also continued industry-leading engagement efforts with companies on freedom of association protections. Following years of sustained investor engagement with major coffee chain Starbucks, including a majority shareholder vote in favor of a third-party assessment of the company’s alignment with its human rights commitments to freedom of association and bargain collectively, Starbucks took significant steps toward collaborative relationships with its workforce. Over 10,000 Starbucks workers have unionized with discussions underway for a collective bargaining agreement.
The Systems also reached agreements with major telecommunications companies (SBA Communications, American Tower, and Crown Castle) that committed to enhanced disclosures on worker safety practices at their tower sites, with a focus on including information on contractors and subcontractors.
In light of the Systems’ concerns regarding the impact of artificial intelligence, the Comptroller’s Office engaged with entertainment and credit reporting companies on promoting ethical A.I. use across industries to safeguard workers, consumers, and the public. Agreements were reached with Comcast, Disney, and credit reporting company TransUnion. The Systems’ proposal at Netflix went to a vote and received a strong 43% of support.
During fiscal year 2024, the Comptroller’s Office, on behalf of the Systems, submitted shareholder proposals to 30 portfolio companies and voted on 16,804 shareholder meetings in 73 markets globally. This includes 3,056 annual and special meetings for U.S. companies. In addition, the Systems voted for a majority of shareholder proposals, with shareholder proposals on executive compensation and those related to directors receiving the highest voting support.
Proxy voting decisions for each of the Systems can be viewed here, and are available within 24 to 48 hours of electronic votes being submitted. To learn more about the corporate governance and shareholder efforts of the Systems, read the full annual postseason report.
No comments:
Post a Comment