Anyone who owns Socially Responsible Investments has probably heard the term “shareholder engagement”. Shareholder engagement encourage companies to do better on an environmental, social, and governance basis and it’s sometimes easier to influence a company’s behaviour through shareholder voting rather than as a protester.
NEI Investments recently published their Quarter 2 “Engaging for Change Active Ownership Report” of their engagement activities surrounding climate change, human and labour rights, and stakeholder primacy. The report also touches on NEI Investments response to current issues involving companies within their portfolios such as inequality in retail after the pull back of Covid-19 pay. Below is an excerpt from the report that focuses on climate change or, if you want to read the full report on NEI Investments website, click here.
“Climate change remains a top concern for us. We actively voted on climate proposals filed at large energy companies and financial institutions. We voted against or abstained from 56% of climate-related proposals because, while we shared the proponents’ concerns about the risks of climate change, we did not necessarily agree with the proposed solution. To us, some of these proposals were not well-targeted and failed to acknowledge the progress that companies and investors have made in this area. For example, we abstained on proposals filed at Equinor and Shell asking to set and publish targets in line with the Paris Climate Agreement, given that they have been highly responsive to investor engagement on this topic, and have recently disclosed strategies with updated commitments to explore ways to decarbonize operations, including Scope 3 emissions. In contrast, we supported proposals requesting JPMorgan and TD Bank to prepare reports on their climate risks, despite the efforts both organizations have taken to address climate-related risks. Indeed, we see the added value of more information on their greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goals and plans, especially as it pertains to better alignment of their lending and financing activities to the Paris Agreement, even if we are still unclear what such targets would look like. Of note, the climate resolution at JPMorgan nearly reached majority support from investors.”
NEI Investments Quarter 2 “Engaging for Change Active Ownership Report
