BlackRock sides with more companies on ESG shareholder proposals this proxy season

Here is this note from Sasja Beslik about this article (also see this blog from Liz Dunshee):

The biggest Asset Manager in the World is giving in. BlackRock’s support for US shareholder proposals on environmental and social issues fell by nearly half in this year’s annual meeting season, as the world’s largest money manager voted for just 24 per cent of them.

The group had warned of this outcome in May when it argued that shareholder proposals were becoming too prescriptive and that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had changed the investment calculus.

“Many climate-related shareholder proposals sought to dictate the pace of companies’ energy transition plans with little regard to the disruption caused to their financial performance, given continued demand from consumers. Others failed to recognise the progress made,” BlackRock said in a report on its voting released on Tuesday. “These factors made these proposals less supportable.”