You know Your Survival Guy is not a fan of ESG investing. It looks more like an excuse to charge investors higher fees for spotty performance. It seems like many investors have also come around to the idea that ESG might not be in their best interests, and the category has lost some of its shine. At BlackRock, previously a champion of the ESG movement, support for ESG shareholder resolutions has hit a new low. Simon Jessop reports in Reuters:
BlackRock (BLK.N), opens new tab, the world’s biggest asset manager, cut its support for shareholder proposals linked to environmental and social issues to a fresh low of 4.1% in the most recent annual general meeting season, it said on Wednesday.
Despite the number of environmental and social-related proposals increasing year on year to 493 from 455, BlackRock said most had been rejected for much the same reasons as in previous years.
In 2023 it supported 6.7% of such proposals, down sharply from its support for 47% of resolutions in 2020-21, though the number of resolutions filed with companies since that high water mark had risen sharply.
“In our assessment, the majority of these (proposals) were over-reaching, lacked economic merit, or sought outcomes that were unlikely to promote long-term shareholder value,” said its “2024 Global Voting Spotlight” report.
“A significant percentage were focused on business risks that companies already had processes in place to address, making them redundant.”
BlackRock’s handling of these and governance-related issues, together dubbed ESG, has faced fierce criticism in recent years from a group of U.S. Republican politicians, who have accused various companies of engaging in “woke capitalism”.
Action Line: Be sure you are in control of your share-voting power. No one should use your investment to further their own political ends. When you want to talk about a portfolio that puts you in control of your share voting power, I’m here. In the meantime, click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.
