This year’s Annual General Meetings for European and US companies will take place from April to June. They will be a litmus test to assess the credibility and concrete results of “shareholder engagement” on climate issues. What are the key climate challenges that will be discussed this year? Are investors equipped and ready to face them?

Access our full analysis (in French) here.

The 2022 AGMs will be a moment of truth for shareholder engagement on climate. Yet, most investors appear ill-prepared to face the three key climate-related challenges that will define this year’s debates, namely Say on Climate votes, coal phase-out, and oil & gas expansion. Without a swift reaction from investors, it is likely that case-by-case and unambitious votes based on opaque criteria will prevail. However, it is not too late for investors to react, by implementing a simple, three-point action plan:

  1. Oppose management on “Say on Climate” asking shareholders’ approval on incomplete or misaligned “climate” plans.
  2. Sanction laggards that still do not have an adequate coal phase-out plan.
  3. Make “stopping oil & gas expansion” your priority engagement demand toward fossil fuel companies and implement progressive escalation measures against the companies still developing new oil and gas projects.