The year 2024 saw record-breaking global temperatures and extreme weather disasters worldwide, causing loss of life, homes, and hundreds of billions in damages. In light of this devastating year, investors are looking to the 2025 proxy season as an opportunity to encourage corporations to do more to address the financial impacts of climate change by reducing planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions and investing in the clean energy economy. 

That is evident in the analysis of U.S. shareholder proposals filed so far in the 2025 proxy season and tracked by Ceres. For the third consecutive year, the most common climate-related proposals are likely to be those requesting companies issue a transition plan that demonstrates how they are delivering on their emissions reduction goals in ways that will make their business stronger. We expect these proposals to make up about 20% of all climate-related proposals filed in 2025 – similar to 2023 and 2024.   

Investor focus on transition plan proposals began to gain serious momentum in 2021. Between 2021 and 2024, 137 transition plan proposals were filed by about 20 investors. These proposals saw positive support from shareholders and companies. In 2023, just over half of them were withdrawn by filers in return for commitments from companies. In 2024, this success rate was 40%. The average shareholder vote on proposals requesting transition plans in 2023 was 28.6%, while the average vote in 2024 was 26.2%. 

A key reason for this support is that the business case for issuing transition plans is so clear. The private sector understands the material financial risks of climate change, such as the increasing cost and fleeting availability of insurance. They also recognize the enormous opportunities of capitalizing on plummeting clean energy costs and the rapid development of new technologies for low-carbon commodities like steel and cement.   

Transition plans are a critical tool to help businesses enumerate the actions they will take to meet the moment and build a resilient and profitable business strategy. Organizations, including Ceres, have published frameworks to guide companies in creating these plans, which focus on forward-looking action on decarbonization and capital expenditures, adaptation and resilience, just transition, and policy advocacy. Many leading companies see a competitive advantage in putting the strategies in place now to make their business profitable in the long term.  

Companies are also publishing transition plans to prepare for impending European regulations. The EU’s recently enacted Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) mandates that certain companies operating in the EU, including some U.S. companies, issue transition plans starting in 2027. More than 20 countries are considering adopting the International Sustainability Standards Board disclosure standards, which require disclosure of transition plans if companies have one. Even with new climate disclosure regulations stalled in the U.S. and some details of CSDDD implementation in flux, regulation is coming.  

With companies facing regulatory uncertainty, climate-related physical risks and adaptation needs, and shifting energy demands, a comprehensive plan could not be more critical. Investor filings this proxy season demonstrate how vital climate transition planning will be in 2025.  

Rob Berridge
Senior Director of Shareholder Engagement, Ceres

Laura Draucker
Senior Director of Corporate Climate Action, Ceres