131 Corporate Engagements with 111 Companies in 10 ESG Issue Areas

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDIA CONTACT: Stefanie Spear, sspear@asyousow.org, 216-387-1609

BERKELEY, CA—OCT. 29, 2020—As You Sow today released its “2020 Shareholder Impact Review: Changing Corporations for Good” report. The report summarizes As You Sow’s 131 corporate engagements with 111 companies across 10 program areas in the 2020 proxy season. Each engagement helped the company avoid material risk by offering sound business solutions, resulting in progress on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues.

Of those engagements, 73 escalated to formal shareholder resolutions filed on behalf of 221 shareholders. Forty resolutions were withdrawn after the companies agreed to responsive actions. Twenty-two went to a vote, achieving share-value support of more than $793 billion and earning an average 30% vote with a record four majority votes ranging from 54.7% to 79.1%. Eighteen companies challenged our proposals at the U.S. Securities Exchange Council; we successfully defended 12 of those proposals. 

“The breadth and depth of the As You Sow team of issue experts is dramatically demonstrated in this report,” said As You Sow CEO Andrew Behar. “Each engagement is based on deep research in which we identify and analyze material risk to each company. Our program team then engages with corporate management to assist in finding solutions with practical business solutions for all stakeholders. Ultimately we help these companies reduce risk and improve their brand.”

The report provides a comprehensive listing of each engagement and a summary of highlights. It includes more than 50 ongoing dialogues on a range of critical ESG issues.

The 131 engagements addressed the following issue areas: 49 climate change; 7 pesticides; 8 antibiotics misuse and overuse in factory farming; 18 ocean plastics, single use plastics, and packaging recyclability; 9 forced labor in corporate supply chains; 10 gender and board diversity; 17 governance and materiality; 4 CEO Pay; 4 political spending; 5 water use.

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As You Sow is a nonprofit organization that promotes environmental and social corporate responsibility through shareholder advocacy, coalition building, and innovative legal strategies. Click here to see As You Sow’s shareholder resolution tracker.