We’ve talked a lot about proxy season trends over the past several years. Last week I wrote about the trends so far in 20216. Overall, the number of ESG proposals and the support behind them is down. However, there is one group faring worse than ESG proponents this proxy season, and that’s anti-ESG. Anti-ESG advocates started bringing their own shareholder proposals a few years ago. They’ve never gone over particularly well, and this year is no different. A recent memo from Mayer Brown discusses the trends:
“As in recent years, anti-ESG proposals constituted a large portion of overall shareholder proposals in 2026, constituting about 20% of the total shareholder proposals voted on to date. Approximately 28 additional anti-ESG proposals were excluded under Rule 14a-8. Consistent with both 2024 and 2025, none of the ESG related proposals received a passing shareholder vote; in 2026, the average vote in favor of anti-ESG proposals was about 1.2%, and such proposals received a median support level of 1.27%”
Previously, anti-ESG used their proposals to “block” their pro-ESG counterparts. They sought to preclude pro-ESG proposals by staking out the opposite position on an ESG issue first. This would make the pro-ESG proposal duplicative and allow for its exclusion. In those cases, winning didn’t matter. It was about getting on the proxy card so others couldn’t. However, with the SEC sitting on the sidelines this proxy season, companies aren’t having much trouble excluding ESG proposals. This makes the purpose of anti-ESG proposals unclear. The level of support is too low to win votes or force settlements. For now, anti-ESG shareholder proposals are just more noise.
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