Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) appears to have backed away from filing shareholder resolutions after just two years of such activity.
According to the latest Proxy Preview report, which collates information about the requests shareholders are making at US annual meetings, there had been 355 ESG proposals filed by 21 February.
For the first time since 2023, none of those resolutions has been submitted by the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund manager.
One of Europe’s most influential responsible investors, NBIM announced in 2022 that it would start filing shareholder proposals for the first time if companies didn’t meet its expectations.
The following proxy season, data shows it filed four requests relating to the Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions at US firms Marathon Petroleum, Newmarket, Packaging Corp of America and Westlake.
Two were withdrawn after an agreement was reached, and the remaining two went to a shareholder vote.
In 2024, the data shows NBIM filed at Kinder Morgan, asking it to address its Scope 1 and 2 emissions. That went to vote and garnered 31% shareholder support.
This year, however, figures from the Proxy Preview report and multiple other sources suggest NBIM has backed away from tabling resolutions.
More secrecy
It is possible that the investment giant will submit late resolutions or that it is keeping its activities private this year.
The Proxy Preview report said there had been more secrecy around this year’s resolutions, including an increase in shareholder resolutions being “withheld from publication” and “proponents who do not want their proposal or name mentioned until the proxy is actually released”.
BNP Paribas is also missing from the latest data, for example, despite having filed a proposal on biodiversity at MacDonald’s in January.
In February, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued new guidance to prevent major shareholders from “exert[ing] pressure on management to implement specific measures or changes to a policy” – including ESG-related requests.
The guidance does not ban the practice, but it may impose more cumbersome rules on significant investors that seek to have such influence.
A spokesperson for NBIM told IPE it did not have any comment, adding: “All our voting decisions are published five days ahead of the AGM.”
BNP Paribas did not respond by the time of publication.
Earlier this year NBIM played down links between the ESG backlash in the US and the way companies are actually behaving regarding their decarbonisation efforts.
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