Shareholders are placing increased value on non-financial
factors when making investment decisions. Some of these factors are
environmental and social issues. In particular, shareholder
proposals on climate change have recently gained some traction.
In 2016, a record breaking number of climate change
resolutions were filed. This shift in focus is attributed to the
2015 Paris Accord, where 195 nations committed to take measures to
mitigate global warming. The accord's objective was to garner a
global response to climate change, and it succeeded in enlisting a
pledge from these nations to limit temperature increases to well
below 2 degrees Celsius.
Interestingly, this year, there have been 3 climate change shareholder proposals that
were passed during the 2017 proxy season in the United States
despite boards' recommendations to vote against these
proposals. The boards argued that the information was already
included in other reports, that there were strategies already
