Mid-season proxy scorecard: Taking stock of ESG shareholder proposals in 2025

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ESG shareholder proposals have come under increasing scrutiny over the past few years, with debates focusing around their alleged prescriptiveness and quality. Support for these proposals also fell sharply from the record levels reached in 2021 before stabilising last year at around 20 percent.

Last year also saw ExxonMobil sue Dutch NGO Follow This and Arjuna Capital over a climate resolution. The lawsuit ended with the case being dismissed but Arjuna Capital had to promise never to file a resolution at the oil major again.

And following the election of Donald Trump, filers predicted that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would be more likely to side with corporates, increasingly allowing them to block ESG proposals.

So with all of this in mind, how are experts feeling about what we have seen so far this proxy season? How has the SEC’s approach to ESG proposals shifted in 2025 – in particular, what has been the impact of Staff Legal Bulletin 14M (SLB14M)? And of the AGMs that have happened so far, what trends are emerging?

To dig into all of this and more, RI’s AGM reporter Gina Gambetta sat down with two experts in the space. First up, Lindsey Stewart, director of stewardship research and policy at Morningstar Sustainalytics. And for the second part of the episode, Gina spoke with Damion Rallis, co-founder of ESG research and analytics firm Free Float. 

In this episode

Gina Gambetta is AGM reporter at Responsible Investor

Lindsey Stewart is director of stewardship research and policy at Morningstar Sustainalytics

Damion Rallis is co-founder of Free Float