Investors Crank Up Pressure on Companies With Record Climate, Race Proxy Proposals

McDonald’s Corp. is facing questions about animal welfare. Meta Platforms Inc. is being confronted by concerns that its metaverse is causing psychological damage. And the biggest U.S. banks are being held to account for their contributions to climate change.

These are just some of the issues that shareholders will decide at upcoming annual meetings in what’s shaping up to be a contentious year, with a record of more than 200 environmental and social resolutions submitted to corporations across America. The world’s largest money managers led by BlackRock Inc. have thrown unprecedented support behind such proposals, putting even more demands on companies to act.

“Pressure from investors, regulators and nonprofits is making it increasingly difficult for companies to hide away from environmental and social issues,” said Julie Moret, global head of sustainable investing at Northern Trust Asset Management, which manages about $1.3 trillion.

Published by Saijel Kishan, Mathieu Benhamou and Jeff Green in Bloomberg.