Macquarie dissidents fail in climate push, but protest vote shows ESG isn't dead
Heavyweight shareholders failed to compel Macquarie to step up its climate disclosures, but their protest vote suggests the Trump-driven backlash against ESG has not reached Australia.
With anti-ESG sentiment sweeping through the United States at the moment, it might have seemed logical to assume that Macquarie Group shareholders wouldn't make a fuss about its climate policies at its annual shareholder meeting on Thursday. The reality proved different.
While a dissident group of shareholders, backed by some major institutions, failed in an attempt to compel the financial services giant to step up its disclosure of the risks faced from financing greenhouse gas-emitting companies and projects, climate-related issues still featured heavily at the fiery and theatrical AGM.
Climate protestors were active outside the company's headquarters, while questions on climate came in thick and fast from retail shareholders, with Macquarie's own emissions and the way it discloses financed emissions — those of the companies it invests in or lends to — both repeatedly raised as concerns.
Twin resolutions aimed at compelling management to step up climate risk disclosures fell well short of the 75% threshold required for them to be adopted, despite backing from New York City Pension Systems, Norway's largest pension fund KLP and the UK's Church of England Pension Fund Board. But Australian Ethical Investments' ethical stewardship lead Amanda Richman still described the protest vote as "significant", compared to the support for similar resolutions at previous AGMs.
