Proxy Season 2025: How Shareholders Are Making an Impact Amid Political Pushback

AIO Financial – Fee Only Financial Advisors

Proxy Season 2025: How Shareholders Are Making an Impact Amid Political Pushback

At AIO Financial, we specialize in helping our clients align their investments with their values through socially responsible investing (SRI). We believe in the power of the individual investor—and there’s no better example of that power than proxy season, when shareholders come together to hold corporations accountable.

The 2025 Proxy Preview Report, developed by As You Sow, Proxy Impact, and Empower Venture Partners, underscores how shareholder advocacy remains one of the most powerful tools we have to influence corporate behavior—even in the face of increasing political and regulatory headwinds.

🗳 What Is Shareholder Advocacy?

Shareholder advocacy refers to the actions taken by investors—often at annual general meetings (AGMs)—to influence a company’s policies, operations, and impact on society and the environment. Through proxy voting and shareholder resolutions, investors can raise concerns about everything from climate change to corporate lobbying practices.

Key Shareholder Rights Include:

• Voting on board director candidates and policy issues
• Receiving dividends and reviewing company financials
• Transferring shares and suing for wrongful acts
• Filing shareholder proposals—if you’ve held:
• $2,000+ in stock for 3+ years
• $15,000+ for 2+ years
• $25,000+ for 1+ year

Shareholders owning more than 10% of a company’s shares can call special meetings, and those with over 5% must file reports to the SEC detailing their intentions and transactions.

At AIO Financial, we help clients use these rights to vote their values and engage companies on issues like climate justice, racial equity, and sustainable business practices.

📉 Fewer Filings, Bigger Stakes in 2025

As of February 21, shareholders had filed 355 ESG proposals—a 34% drop from the same time in 2024. Why?

1. Regulatory Pushback: A change in the presidential administration led to a dramatic policy shift at the SEC. Resolutions that had been approved for decades were suddenly excluded.
2. Mid-Season Rule Changes: After most proposals were filed, the SEC altered the rules to favor companies, extending their deadline to object—but not giving shareholders the same opportunity to revise their submissions.
3. Political Attacks on ESG: Proponents are more cautious this year, with many opting for private negotiations to avoid public backlash and potential proposal exclusions.

Despite fewer filings, shareholder advocacy is more important than ever. This year’s proposals tackle systemic risks that impact long-term corporate value—and your portfolio.

🌍 2025 Proposal Highlights

🌡️ Climate Change (85 proposals)

• Companies are being asked to disclose climate transition plans, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and report on climate-related financial risks.
• Shareholders are targeting sectors like finance and insurance for their role in funding fossil fuels and delaying climate action.

🏛️ Corporate Political Influence (77 proposals)

• Shareholders want transparency around lobbying, political contributions, and values alignment.
• The SEC allowed omission of some long-standing lobbying disclosure proposals, prompting many investors to shift strategy.

🌱 Environmental Management (52 proposals)

• Topics include biodiversity, deforestation, plastic use, and food waste.
• New proposals target the avocado supply chain and pollution from tire particulates.

🧑🏽‍🤝‍🧑🏻 Human Rights (37 proposals)

• Issues addressed include AI ethics, child safety, forced labor, Indigenous rights, and tax transparency.
• One high-profile proposal calls on Alphabet to disclose lobbying efforts related to child safety laws.

💼 Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (36 proposals)

• Proposals ask companies to disclose DEI metrics, ensure equal pay, and protect freedom of association.
• Despite political backlash, support for DEI remains strong: At companies like Disney and Apple, shareholders voted overwhelmingly (98%) in favor of DEI initiatives.

⚠️ Withdrawing and Omitting Proposals

So far, 78 proposals (22%) have been withdrawn—up from just 7.7% last year. These withdrawals often result from successful negotiations behind the scenes or concern over proposals being blocked by the SEC.

Meanwhile, 221 proposals have received no-action requests—where companies ask the SEC for permission to exclude them. This tactic has become more frequent in 2025, signaling a more adversarial environment for shareholder rights.

🛑 The Anti-ESG Push

The number of anti-ESG proposals is rising and now represents nearly 15% of all submissions. These proposals often attack:

• DEI programs
• Corporate activism
• Environmental disclosures

Notably, state officials like Oklahoma’s State Treasurer have joined the push, filing proposals against companies that support racial justice, digital safety, or reproductive rights.

The good news? These proposals are overwhelmingly defeated—with anti-DEI efforts losing 98% of the vote.

💡 Why This Matters

The data is clear: Shareholder advocacy works. Over the last two decades, it has led to:

• Greater corporate transparency
• Stronger environmental policies
• Improved worker protections
• More inclusive and equitable workplaces

Even in a politically hostile environment, responsible investors are helping shape the future of business—one vote at a time.

✅ How You Can Make an Impact

At AIO Financial, we empower you to:

• Vote your proxies in alignment with your values
• Engage companies on sustainability and justice
• Invest in portfolios screened for ESG performance and advocacy alignment

You don’t need to be a billionaire or run a fund. If you’re a shareholder, you already have a voice—and we’re here to help you use it effectively.

📬 Let’s Work Together

Want to learn more about socially responsible investing and shareholder advocacy? Reach out today for a free consultation. Whether you’re just starting or you’re a seasoned investor, we’ll help you build a strategy that aligns your money with your mission.

🌐 aiofinancial.com
📞 Schedule a call
📩 Join our newsletter for updates on ESG investing and proxy voting tools

Together, we can build a more sustainable and just future—one vote, one investment, one conversation at a time.

Video Transcript:

I’m going to go over some of the
shareholder resolutions that are proposed for 2025
there has been a drop in the number of resolutions
compared to 2024
we’re still just in the beginning of the season
but that’s partially because of the new SEC leadership
and shifting in rules
making it more difficult for shareholders
to make resolutions to make changes
be advocates shareholders are waiting on this
you’ll see a lot of the proposals are under review
there’s been an increase in private negotiations
so the shareholders
are engaging
but maybe not through the shareholder advocacy
through shareholder resolutions
but just engagement with companies
many resolutions have been withdrawn
that’s higher than last year
and a lot of times
that means that there was an agreement brought up
a lot of no action a summary of some of the proposals
the shareholder resolutions again
environment and climate change are a big
focus of shareholder resolutions
poke a push for climate transition plans
and greenhouse gas emission disclosure
a deforestation in the avocado industry
and tire particulate pollution tire shredding
and then in the financial sector
just scrutinizing the funding of fossil fuel projects
corporate
political influences is another big issue this year
lobbying transparency
as you see allowed exclusions for proposals
um
many of the disclose the resolutions are being blocked
social di topics there are many of those this year
and then there is an increase
there’s a lot of anti environmental
social governance proposals in this
shareholder resolutions
they’re mostly getting rejected by shareholders though
so why engage with companies
it’s another tool it’s a way to make positive change
through your investments as a shareholder
you can make an impact you don’t have to do it
if you invest in a fund
an exchange traded fund
a mutual fund that has similar values
is pushing in the direction you want to push
they will engage on your behalf
they have the knowledge staff
resources to be able to make changes with companies
there are many examples of funds
there are funds that do screening
there are funds that engage with community investment
and there are funds that just engage
they just try to make changes
some of them just vote on shareholder resolutions
and some of them bring up shareholder resolutions
engage with companies to make positive changes
you can
well you’re right
as a shareholder is vote file resolution sue
but you can let the funds do this
you don’t have to be doing this as an investor
and then you can bring up resolutions
you can vote on resolutions
and you can engage with corporations
you own a part of the company
you are an owner and can make
especially if you add your resources to other
like minded investors you can make changes in companies
voting is crucial
you can demand transparency
you can influence supply chains corporate contributions
sustainability greenhouse gas emission disclosure
there are a lot of issues
you can affect and we’ll go over them
we’ll go over some of those that are being proposed
or that are being worked on this year
in overview
the drop is a lot because of these rule changes
SCC policy changes and political pressure
it’s unfortunate but
that’s the environment we’re dealing with right now
it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t engage
it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try hard to make positive
changes and
if the government’s not gonna make positive changes
it’s a way to make changes and push
because these companies
do influence our political system
why the drop
t C C rule changes
long approved proposals are not being allowed
private negotiations to avoid backlash
so environmental social governance categories
these are the main areas that are being worked on
largest is climate change
corporate political influence
a big amount of anti environmental management
and then you’ve got human rights
diversity at work sustainable governance
health and safety decent workplace climate again
always an issue
transition planning is the biggest piece
climate financing is a big piece
disclosure greenhouse gas emission disclosure plastics
food waste
we’ll go over some of these so emissions proposals
these are some of the companies being targeted
the resolution topic and who’s pushing that forward
Green Century is a mutual fund company
as you so puts out this report each year
there are great non profit
trying to make changes through shareholder engagement
and and this is the format we’re going to see in all
of these proposals
uh climate transition proposals 38 filed
I think with the previous slide too
this is just an example
of the ones that have been filed
some of them get filed and get withdrawn
if the company does and the advocate
and the proponent come to an agreement
a trillium here but companies and the resolutions
adopt greenhouse gas targets
and issue transition plans
align with the 1.5 degrees
just transition proposals
climate finance proposals
so these are for institutions financing fossil fuel
disclose clean energy supply finance ratio
just a lot of its disclosure measure disclose reduce
disclose carbon offset
so this is carbon offset accounting proposals
methane proposals
environmental management
I guess some of the biggest are water use and risks
waste and pollution
we’re early in the season so this number will grow
antimicrobial proposal
biodiversity deforestation proposals
food waste proposals
mining plastic proposals water certification proposals
human rights
well in the pretty similar standards and ethics racism
environmental justice
I guess digital content so human rights policies
indigenous people’s rights proposals
environmental justice proposals
human rights rest data Protection
AI reporting human rights impact
child safety proposals
data Protection forced labor
hate speech
health and safety proposals
we’ve got some health proposals
tax transparency
decent work freedom of association proposals
living wage worker health and safety
diversity at work
d I Metric Metrics and Data Proposals
d a Policy Proposals
some data proposals
corporate political influence
this is always a big one
lobbying elections are the big ones
so political contribution proposals
lobby ing proposals and a lot of this is just report
just disclose value congruency proposals
as you so did a proposal there
sustainable governance
board composition
try to get a diverse board of directors
environmental social governance reporting proposal
compensation proposals
voting rights proposals
anti environmental social governance
there are quite a few of proposals that are against
environmental social governance
again
most of those are getting defeated by shareholders
withdraws there’s a lot of withdrawals
and that’s fine if they’ve negotiated
if they’ve worked something out
pull the shareholder resolution
make it not public just make changes
CC is tightening inclusion rules
anti
esg environmental social governance is rising
we’ve already discussed this
most almost all are getting defeated
why shareholder advocacy matters
it makes a change you’re a shareholder
you can make a change sometimes
you can’t count on the government making a change
greater accountability align investments with values
influence sustainable business practices
I’m with AIO Financial
we help get clients aged with their investments
we have a questionnaire
just to make sure your investments
if you want them to match your values
so that they’re engaging on your behalf
they’re voting on your behalf they’re
working with companies to make positive changes
feel free to call us AIO financial.com
we offer a free consultation
we have some tools on our website
AIO financial.com let me know if you have any questions
let me know if you have any comments
it’s just a brief summary
we use a tool called your stake
to evaluate the impact of proposals
we can compare portfolios
let us know if we can help
alright take care
thank you for watching

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