The fifth annual report by ShareAction analysing how the world’s largest asset managers voted in 2023 on shareholder resolutions to address environmental and social issues has been released. The overall picture of the results is that support for these resolutions has declined, and the report describes this as the ‘worst voting performance yet’.

The report, Voting Matters, found that in 2023 only 3 per cent of assessed resolutions passed at AGMs, down from 21 per cent in 2021 as ESG matters face the dangers of politicisation (particularly in social areas) and mixed performance.

Of the environmental resolutions assessed, 3 per cent passed last year compared to 32 per cent in 2021. On social resolutions, the report found a drop in majority support from 15 per cent to 4 per cent in 2023.
Claudia Gray, head of financial sector research, said: “What we are seeing is asset managers turning their backs on people and planet on an unprecedented scale. Efforts to change urgent climate, biodiversity and social issues will face a steep uphill struggle if asset managers do not support them.”

Ranking 69 of the world’s largest asset managers, the report assesses how they used their votes at AGMs in 2023. European asset managers were revealed to have a much better record of voting for resolutions protecting the environment, and human and employee rights, than their US counterparts. Indeed, the trend toward more responsible voting practices among European asset managers continues, and on average they supported 88 per cent of shareholder proposals on environmental and social issues, signalling a positive trajectory across European countries and possibly driven by EU regulations in the relevant parts of Europe. US asset managers on average only voted for 25 per cent.

None-the-less, even with the hight level of support in European AGMS, the fact still remains that only 3 per cent actually passed globally.

Gray continues: “Many asset managers promote their commitment to responsible investment. For their claims to have any credibility they need to vote in favour of more social and environmental resolutions. We are now seeing the complete opposite of this happening.”

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