By Susanna Rust2021-04-15T14:36:00+01:00
The way asset managers cast votes on climate-related issues should not be influenced by the status of company engagement “or other management considerations”, according to guidelines from the UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance (NZAOA).
In a new publication – billed as being about ‘Elevating Climate Diligence on Proxy Voting Approaches’ – the group of asset owners wrote that asset managers’ proxy voting policies and supporting documents should “include a commitment to Climate Votes being evaluated based on merit of the proposal”.
By way of example, the Alliance members indicated this would mean “a productive engagement is not used as an excuse for a vote against a shareholder proposal with which the manager finds merit”.