Big three US money managers cut ESG support

The three biggest US money managers slashed their support of environmental and social shareholder proposals in the latest voting season amid a Republican-led backlash against sustainable investing.

State Street Corp.’s investing unit said it supported 6% of environmental shareholder proposals in the first half of the year and 7% of social ones, less than what it did in the same year-ago period. Vanguard Group said last month that it didn’t back any of those resolutions, while BlackRock Inc. said it voted for 4% of the proposals in the 12 months ending June, down from 7% a year earlier.

Together, the three money managers have immense influence during proxy season because they collectively own about 20% of the shares of all companies in the S&P 500, mainly through their enormous index-tracking funds. The drop in support is a stark turnaround from 2021, when they voted in favor of a record number of proposals that focused on topics such as climate change, workforce diversity and human rights.

The so-called Big Three are taking a more circumspect view of such shareholder proposals, said Lindsey Stewart, director of stewardship research and policy at Morningstar Sustainalytics. 

“It’s clear that the political climate, and the rise of anti-ESG resolutions and legislation, has played at least some role in the decline in proxy voting support,” he said. “But the fact is, even some of the pro-ESG resolutions were badly worded or lacked a clear benefit to shareholders, so it’s not surprising that firms rejected many of these resolutions.”

Total shareholder support for environmental and social resolutions fell to about 19% during the latest proxy season from roughly 22% in the year-earlier period, according to Morningstar. 

The latest vote tally emerges at a time when the finance industry is under fire from GOP politicians for promoting environmental, social and governance strategies that they say back liberal goals such as addressing climate change and workforce gender and racial diversity.

State pensions in Texas and Florida have pulled money from BlackRock, while corporations have stepped away from pledges on diversity, equity and inclusion programs that were sparked by the 2020 killing of George Floyd and the national unrest that ensued.

 The decline in shareholder support corresponds with the shift by chief executive officers, who have been downgrading sustainability on their lists of top priorities, according to a recent survey by Bain & Co. For CEOs, concerns about inflation, artificial intelligence and geopolitics are now more in the spotlight, Bain said.

State Street Global Advisors said in its report that it supported fewer environmental and social resolutions partly because they had become increasingly prescriptive and niche. The Boston-based asset manager oversees $4.4 trillion.

Vanguard rejected all of the 400 proxy proposals that focused on a range of environmental and social matters because they “didn’t address financially material risks to shareholders at the companies in question or were overly prescriptive in their requests,” according to the asset manager.

BlackRock used similar language to explain why it supported so few environmental and social resolutions. The proposals were “unconnected to how a company delivers long-term shareholder value,” the asset manager said.

Morningstar’s Stewart said the US money managers’ voting records contrast with some of their large European rivals, who remain focused on sustainability.