Say on Climate votes should be mandatory for all companies subject to the European Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, the climate and sustainable finance commission (CCFD) has told French regulator the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF).
The CCFD, which comprises financial markets, stakeholders, companies, academics, experts and representatives of civil society, yesterday published its recommendations based on a working group set up in July last year.
These include tabling shareholder climate resolutions and enabling the AMF to intervene if they are not included, and asking companies to submit their climate strategy and decarbonisation plan to the vote of the general meeting, through an evolution of legal and normative frameworks.
French law is evolving to ratify the binding nature of climate resolutions and to regulate the content and frequency of resolutions, as well as the means implemented and the consequences of the vote, the CCFD said.
In terms of the content of Say on Climate votes, the commission said these could include publishing Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions; setting a net-zero-by-2050 target; publish the contribution of ‘captured’ GHG emissions (by volume) to the achievement of objectives; explain how carbon offsets could be used to complement reduction targets; and explain its climate governance, strategy, risk management, metrics and objectives, in line with TCFD standards.
Ahead of AGM season this year, Say on Climate votes are again coming onto the agenda, particularly in the UK and France. “We voted on 52 climate-related proposals from management in the past year,” Kimon Demetriades, stewardship analyst at Allianz Global Investors, said last month.
“We expect in particular that high emitters implement a net-zero strategy and share it with their owners. Investors should have a Say on Climate!”