Shareholder-initiated environmental and energy resolutions: too little too late?
Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal
ISSN: 2040-8021
Article publication date: 12 January 2023
Issue publication date: 4 September 2023
Abstract
Purpose
Given the urgency to address the climate change crisis, the purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of 12 macro-level antecedents on energy and environmental (E&E) shareholder activism in 12 developed countries. Focus was placed on shareholder-initiated E&E resolutions.
Design/methodology/approach
Panel regressions were used to evaluate the relationships between the macro-level antecedents and two dependent variables, namely, the number of shareholder-initiated E&E resolutions filed and voting support for these resolutions.
Findings
The number of shareholder-initiated E&E resolutions filed increased slightly over the research period (2010–2019) but received very little voting support on average. Most of the 1,116 considered resolutions centred on the adoption or amendment of nuclear and environmental policies. Several resolutions called for improved E&E reporting. A significant relationship was found between the number of shareholder-initiated E&E resolutions filed and the rule of law.
Research limitations/implications
The empirical evidence confirmed limited voting support for shareholder-initiated E&E resolutions and the importance of the rule of law in advancing the E&E social movement.
Practical implications
As the E&E social movement is gaining momentum, listed companies in the considered countries are likely to experience more pressure from shareholder activists.
Social implications
To achieve participatory and inclusive climate governance, shareholder activists should collaborate more closely with other challengers in the E&E social movement, notably policy makers and those promoting the rule of law.
Originality/value
The authors considered macro-level antecedents of E&E shareholder activism that have received scant attention in earlier studies. Social movement theory was used as a novel theoretical lens.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Mr Lewis Rowe and the team at Proxy Insight for assistance in collecting the data, Prof Christo Boshoff for financial support and Prof Martin Kidd for the statistical analysis. Several anonymous reviewers provided insightful and detailed comments that greatly improved the final version of this article.
Citation
Viviers, S. and Steenkamp, L.-A. (2023), "Shareholder-initiated environmental and energy resolutions: too little too late?", Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, Vol. 14 No. 5, pp. 1022-1051. https://doi.org/10.1108/SAMPJ-01-2022-0050
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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