For the first time in six years, no environmental proposals passed shareholder votes during the U.S. proxy season. This highlights a drop in investor support for climate action in the U.S.
The number of successful environmental proposals peaked at 14 in 2022. It has since fallen sharply to zero in 2025. The number of environmental resolutions filed this year also fell to 110, down from 149 in 2024. Average investor support for these measures dropped from 18% last year to just 10% this year.
Political and legal pressure
The decline in support is partly due to Republicans who have criticized and even penalized companies for addressing climate risk. For example, large asset managers like BlackRock and Vanguard have been sued by Texas and ten other Republican-led states over their net-zero goals. In response, both BlackRock and Vanguard have left the Net Zero Asset Managers group.
Last year, ExxonMobil sued the activist shareholders Follow This and Arjuna Capital to prevent a climate resolution from going to a vote. As a result, neither group filed an environmental proposal this year.
Leading proxy advisers, Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), are also under fire from Republicans. ISS did not support any environmental proposals this year.
Read the full story on Financial Times
