Climate Change Proxy Resolutions Increase

Following on the heels of the SEC's issuance of an interpretive guidance on disclosure that public companies must make regarding the potential impact of climate change on their businesses, a group of leading U.S. investors announced on March 4 that they have filed a record 95 global warming shareholder resolutions with 82 U.S. and Canadian companies. This represents a 40% increase over the number of such resolutions filed in the previous year.

The companies targeted with 2010 proxy resolutions include some of the largest energy suppliers, such as ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips, as well as homebuilders, retail chains and financial institutions. (See a complete list of the climate-related resolutions here.)

These climate change disclosure resolutions were filed by public pension funds as well as labor, foundation, religious and other institutional investors, many of which are part of the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), an alliance of more than 80 institutional investors with collective assets totaling more than $8 trillion.