You may have seen our recent research revealing that the vast majority of Australia's biggest super funds are regularly voting against climate action at the companies they invest in.
Well, super funds were given the opportunity to turn this trend around at three recent annual general meetings.
Shareholder resolutions coordinated by Market Forces were filed at Santos and QBE, calling for increased transparency around climate impacts and how they are being managed. We also helped ACCR gather shareholders for their resolution, which asked Rio Tinto to disclose its payments to industry lobby groups.
The QBE and Rio Tinto resolutions both attracted around 20% of shareholder support, while 10% of Santos shareholders supported that particular resolution. These are impressive results given the reluctance of investors to vote against company guidance.
So it's fair to say we are seeing an overall improvement in institutional investor support for climate resolutions. But we know that many Australian super funds still failed to support these recent resolutions.
Read more about the shareholder resolutions and how the AGMs went down:
Super funds get the power to vote and engage with companies by investing our money. They should be using that power to push for climate action. It's in members' best interests.
Take action!
Use this form to contact your super fund and ask if it voted for climate change action at QBE, Santos and Rio Tinto.