Protesters gather outside ANZ’s AGM in Brisbane, December 2013
22 March 2016
The next couple of months ushers in one of the busiest periods on the corporate calendar, including the Annual General Meetings (AGMs) of some important players in the fossil fuel industry.
AGMs provide a great opportunity for shareholders to interact directly with companies. Along with a opportunity to vote on resolutions, these meetings also offer shareholders a platform to ask important questions and voice concerns directly to company boards and directors. This means that issues those companies would prefer to sweep under the rug can be brought to the fore.
And this is where you come in. Market Forces is working with shareholders and people willing to represent them as proxies so this AGM season, companies have to face up to the reality of climate change and tell their shareholders how they are managing fossil fuel exposure risk.
We’re looking for more people to join this work and assist by coming along as a shareholder, or a “proxy”, standing in the place of a shareholder who can’t make it.
Can you help? Below is a list of important AGMs over the next couple of months. If you are a shareholder in any of these companies, or live in the city where the AGM is being held and could attend in place of a shareholder, please let us know by filling in the form below.
Are you a shareholder?
Shareholder activism is an important way of holding companies accountable over their involvement in the fossil fuel industry and question their plans to exit it. We’ve had some great success in the past, ensuring the environmental and climate impacts of companies’ activities are given maximum attention in these very public settings.
You can check out some of our work at previous AGMs, including Dan putting the pressure on insurers IAG and Suncorp late last year, and Sam making Aurizon’s Chairman sweat back in 2013 – check out the video below.
If you would like to help us continue this important work, please fill in the form above and indicate which AGMs you can help out with. With your help, we’re looking forward to making the most of this busy period, ensuring that companies aren’t able to dodge their responsibilities towards our environment and climate.