The 2024 shareholder season is underway! More than 500 shareholder resolutions have been filed on a wide range of social, environmental, and sustainable governance issues. This year brings resolutions on the climate crisis, racial justice, and corporate political influence.
If you own company stock directly (not in a mutual fund), you can vote on the company's resolutions, which may address greenhouse gas emissions, animal agriculture, plastic pollution, workplace diversity, labor rights, human rights, reproductive health, gender and racial pay disparity, executive pay, corporate lobbying, and -- new this year -- artificial intelligence.
Below you’ll find many of the companies at which resolutions have been filed, followed by a sampling of the issues of major concern raised by shareholders this year.
If you own stock directly in these or other companies, read your proxy ballots carefully to vote in favor of resolutions that reflect your values. Here are quick tips on how to read a proxy ballot.
Use your shareholder power to Vote Your Values – it’s important to vote your proxy ballots to let management know you want corporate practices that support people and the planet.
By Company*
By Issue*
**Please note that each company's proxy ballot may not exactly match the shareholder resolutions we list here. This list is based on Proxy Preview, which is published in March. Often companies challenge shareholder resolutions at the SEC, or a resolution may be withdrawn by its sponsor. If that occurs after Proxy Preview goes to print, you may not see that resolution listed on the company's proxy ballot.
*Here are definitions of key abbreviations and terms you’ll see in our short descriptions of the shareholder resolutions:
*GHG = greenhouse gas
*Net-zero GHG emissions = “net zero means cutting greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions to as close to zero as possible, with any remaining emissions re-absorbed from the atmosphere, by oceans and forests for instance” – United Nations
*Paris-compliant = Ensuring that actions support the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels. U.N. Climate Change; The Paris Agreement
*Scope 3 = “….emissions a company is responsible for outside of its own walls—from the goods it purchases to the disposal of the products it sells? In fact, the majority of total corporate emissions come from Scope 3 sources,…” Greenhouse Gas Protocol
*ILO Labor Standards = International Labor Standards; United National International Labor Standards
Thanks to As You Sow, the Sustainable Investments Institute, and Proxy Impact, publishers of the 2024 Proxy Preview, for assistance in compiling the lists below that provide a sample of some of the key resolutions facing Corporate America.
Green America is proud to co-sponsor the 2024 Proxy Preview - download your free copy for information on important shareholder resolutions trends and upcoming votes.
As a share owner, you are a part-owner of the company, and voting your proxy is an important responsibility.
Thank you for voting your values! Post this “I'm voting” badge on social media and let people know you're proud to raise your voice on important issues as a shareholder. Click to share to Facebook or Twitter.
New app makes rocking your proxy votes easy! Learn about As You Vote from our allies at As Your Sow, with an individual investor app on the iconik platform.
Green America is not an investment adviser nor do we provide financial planning, legal, or tax advice. Nothing in our communications or materials shall constitute or be construed as an offering of financial instruments or as investment advice or investment recommendations.
Additional Resources
- Are Corporations Accountable for Their Political Spending?
- The State of Shareholder Activism
- Shareholder Resolution Highlights
- New App Makes Rocking Your Proxy Votes Easy
- Vote with Your Dollars for a Better World
- Shareholder Activism Advances Labor Rights
- FAQs About Shareholder Activism
- Anatomy of a Proxy Ballot