ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGS 2023: Voting recommendations for climate-conscious investors

The briefing provides a framework for climate-conscious investors to use their voting rights at 2023 AGMs to hold companies accountable for their climate strategies. It recommends voting against the re-election of directors, executive remuneration, and financial statements if companies fail to disclose comprehensive 1.5°C-aligned strategies or continue fossil fuel expansion. The document specifically analyzes the inadequacies of 'Say on Climate' resolutions and provides case studies on companies like TotalEnergies, BP, and BNP Paribas, while offering a set of priority written questions for the energy, utility, and financial sectors.

• Investors are advised to vote against the re-election of directors if the board lacks a CSR or Sustainability committee, fails to publish a comprehensive climate strategy aligned with a 1.5°C trajectory, or does not respect transition milestones such as ending fossil fuel expansion.
• Executive remuneration should be sanctioned if climate-related criteria are not quantitatively measurable, linked to key targets, or if CSR criteria represent less than 75% of variable remuneration with climate criteria making up less than half of those CSR criteria.
• Financial statements and auditors should be opposed if they do not incorporate material climate-related physical and transition risks or the impacts of global decarbonization efforts, as seen in the case of ArcelorMittal.
• Many 'Say on Climate' resolutions are considered insufficient or risk 'greenwashing' because they often lack essential data such as short- and medium-term Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions targets and detailed capital expenditure (CAPEX) plans.
• TotalEnergies' climate strategy is deemed incompatible with a 1.5°C trajectory because its 2030 production level is projected to be 22% higher than the IEA's Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario (NZE), and it continues to develop new oil and gas projects.
• BNP Paribas is recommended for sanction via director votes due to its continued financing of fossil fuel developers; between April 2021 and September 2022, the bank provided US$7,096 million in financing to top fossil fuel developers.
• BP's remuneration policy is criticized for having climate-related criteria that only cover Scope 1 and 2 emissions and represent only 15% of the maximum annual variable remuneration for top executives.

APA

Masson, A. (2023). ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGS 2023: Voting recommendations for climate-conscious investors. Reclaim Finance. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2023.04.19_Reclaim-Finance_AGM-2023-Voting-recommendations-for-climate-conscious-investors.pdf

Chicago

Masson, Agathe. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGS 2023: Voting recommendations for climate-conscious investors. Reclaim Finance, 2023. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2023.04.19_Reclaim-Finance_AGM-2023-Voting-recommendations-for-climate-conscious-investors.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Masson |first1=Agathe |title=ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGS 2023: Voting recommendations for climate-conscious investors |publisher=Reclaim Finance |date=April 2023 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2023.04.19_Reclaim-Finance_AGM-2023-Voting-recommendations-for-climate-conscious-investors.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{masson2023annual, author = {Masson, Agathe}, title = {{ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGS 2023: Voting recommendations for climate-conscious investors}}, institution = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2023}, month = apr, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2023.04.19_Reclaim-Finance_AGM-2023-Voting-recommendations-for-climate-conscious-investors.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }