As natural disasters associated with our changing climate proliferate and companies grapple with increasing climate-related risks, financial analysts are continuing their efforts to quantify these risks and identify opportunities. Because investors and the companies they seek to influence are spending more time in engagement outside proxy season, the number of shareholder proposals has dropped, although a new crop of related political spending resolutions pushes the overall tally up in 2021 for the first time in several years. To date, there are 66 climate-specific proposals filed and another 13 on climate-related lobbying. Proposals about a wide variety of environmental management issues continue apace, but their number also has fallen; they stand at their lowest ebb of the decade, with just two dozen filed so far in 2021.

(The Political Activity section, p. 33, discussed the climate lobbying proposals. The section on Sustainable Governance, p. 51, examines 12 related proposals seeking reports on and links to ESG metrics for executive compensation as well as board oversight.)