Aug 23 (Reuters) – Support for environmental and social-themed shareholder resolutions further eroded, leading asset manager BlackRock said on Wednesday, citing poor progress by companies in this area and poor preparedness by filers. reported that it did.
BlackRock’s voting, which controls $9.4 trillion, is key to many contests for companies around the world and has resulted in intense scrutiny of its practices.
New York-based BlackRock listed 399 shareholder proposals on environmental and social issues in its annual stewardship report, released to coincide with the end of the company’s 12-month annual meeting cycle on June 30. Of those, 7% said they supported it. That rate was down from 22% of 321 such actions in the previous cycle and 47% of 172 the year before, according to a previous report.
In its latest report, BlackRock said many of the measures call for changes that are not beneficial to the companies participating in the fund.
“Too many proposals were overreach, lacked economic merit, or were simply redundant and were unlikely to help drive long-term shareholder value, with past support from shareholders, including BlackRock.” “This is a decrease compared to several years ago,” the report said.
BlackRock also said it supports directors 89% of the time, the same as in past years.
The report said the board had made progress in reducing the number of directors serving in too many companies and withheld support for management’s recommendation to elect 849 directors over the issue. This is 150 fewer people than the previous mandate year.
The increase in mostly non-binding resolutions reflects increased shareholder interest in issues such as emissions reductions and workforce diversity, helped in part by loosening U.S. regulations on corporate voting access.
Data has previously shown that investor support has declined as more resolutions and companies compromise with activists.
BlackRock has been criticized by conservative U.S. politicians for overemphasizing sustainability issues, citing past proxy voting. BlackRock did not say how the criticism affected this year’s vote.
Ross Carver reports in Boston and Ira Binney in New York. Additional reporting by his Simon Jessop in London.Editing: Sonali Paul
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