What Agenda calls backing off may just be a shift in response to the forthcoming SEC rulemaking on climate disclosure.

Last year CIFF, along with several supporting partners including CDP, the nonprofit formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project, and ESG charity ShareAction, began a new, three-pronged initiative to push companies in the U.S. and Europe to properly manage the transition to a net-zero economy. The initiative asks companies to provide an annual disclosure of emissions, a plan to manage the emissions and “an approval or disapproval vote [on the plan] where shareholders deem it appropriate,” according to the say-on-climate website.

However, CIFF is now “advocating for investors and [nongovernmental organizations] to file [annual general meeting] resolutions only for disclosure of climate action plans in the U.S.,” and not advisory votes on climate plans, wrote Michael Hugman, director of climate finance for CIFF, in an email. CIFF did not file say-on-climate resolutions, but As You Sow and activist hedge fund TCI — which is chaired by Chris Hohn, who also chairs CIFF — filed several resolutions for this year’s proxy season asking companies to disclose emissions reduction plans and allow shareholders to vote on those plans. In the U.S., two companies, Moody’s and S&P Global, preemptively adopted a say-on-climate management resolution, and both received more than 90% support, according to a proxy season review published by Alliance Advisors. Meanwhile, shareholder proposals at Bookings Holdings, Charter Communications, Monster Beverage and Union Pacific got 37.5%, 39%, 7% and 31.6% support, respectively, according to Alliance Advisors.

Agenda – Investors To Back Off Say-on-Climate Proposals