A group of non-profit organizations has created an online platform, called Vote Your Pension, to pressure pension funds ahead of key votes related to climate change at the annual shareholder meetings of companies they invest in.
The platform was created by shareholder pressure groups the Asset Owners Disclosure Project and SumOfUS to encourage pension fund and mutual fund members to voice their opinions on climate change issues.
In its first action, the platform seeks to pressure pension funds into supporting a resolution by shareholder activist group As You Sow asking Chevron to stop capital expenditure for exploration out of concern it won’t be able to use any fossil fuels found due to global warming. The group says this action will serve as a test case for further action that could spread to annual shareholder meetings of major fossil fuel companies worldwide. The Chevron meeting is scheduled to take place on May 27.
‘Our global members have been unable to exercise the shareholder power associated with their retirement savings until now,’ says Lisa Lindsley, senior shareholder advocacy manager of SumOfUS, which says it has almost 8 mn members. ‘Vote Your Pension will empower individuals to instruct their mutual funds, pension funds and other financial middlemen to vote for sustainability.’
Vote Your Pension, which calls itself ‘the world’s largest global shareholder engagement campaign’, works by focusing on a single company at a time. It allows pension and mutual fund members to vote symbolically for or against the Chevron resolution on the website, while registering details of their pension fund, membership number and location. The votes are to be used to pressure the funds and the platform has a spot designated for responses from the funds, though none has yet replied on the site.
