The world’s largest asset managers have scaled back their support for biodiversity and deforestation-related shareholder resolutions in 2024, despite growing investor interest in the issue.
As interest in nature gains momentum, shareholders filed a record 18 nature-related resolutions in 2024. However, not a single one passed due to opposition from major shareholders, new research reveals.
Support for biodiversity and deforestation-related resolutions from asset managers has dropped sharply, from 59% in 2022 to just 13% in 2024, according to a report by campaign group Global Witness.
The report also highlighted that US-based managers, including BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street, voted against key biodiversity resolutions at higher rates than their European or UK counterparts, who were more likely to back such resolutions. The analysis, based on public filings in databases provided by the Principles for Responsible Investment and Ceres, used relevant search terms to identify voting patterns.
Ashley Thomson, senior US Policy Adviser at Global Witness, commented: “This report paints a worrying picture of leading US financiers’ lacklustre approach to biodiversity loss. There’s a clear disconnect between these asset managers’ rhetoric and actions, which undermines their power to drive real change.”
Listed companies at the heart of investor battles to tackle deforestation include Tyson Foods, the world’s second-largest food processor and a member of the “Big Four” meat processors controlling 80% of the US beef market, as well as Brazilian meatpacker JBS.
BlackRock declined to comment on the findings, instead pointing to its voting choice programme, which allows investors to adopt different stances at AGMs.
