Energy

Shareholders Defeat Woke Climate Proposals At Three Massive Banks

Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Green New Deal Network

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Thomas Catenacci Energy & Environment Reporter
Font Size:

Shareholders of three massive U.S. banks delivered a thumping to climate activists, soundly rejecting proposals to end their financing of new fossil fuel projects.

The proposals — which were voted on at Citibank, Wells Fargo and Bank of America shareholder meetings Tuesday — each garnered less than 13% support from investors, according to the Rainforest Action Network (RAN). Environmental groups — including RAN, Amazon Watch, the Giniw Collective, Climate Finance Action and Stand.earth — backed the resolutions which were proposed by activist investment managers Trillium Asset Management, Harrington Investments and the Sierra Club Foundation.

“A critical mass of investors affirmed that business-as-usual expansion of fossil fuels is incompatible with a 1.5°C world and threatens their portfolios overall,” Jason Opeña Disterhoft, senior climate and energy campaigner at RAN, said in a statement. “Ending fossil expansion is a matter of when, not if: Citi, Wells Fargo and Bank of America must recognize this direction of travel and make ending fossil expansion a precondition for financing for all clients.”

The Citibank proposal received just 12.8% approval from investors while the Bank of America and Wells Fargo resolutions received 11% each, RAN said. Resolutions receiving at least 5% may be refiled in a year. (RELATED: Democrats Look To Sustainable Investing Craze As Means For Pushing Climate Agenda)

The vote tallies suggest that major asset managers BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street and Fidelity ultimately opposed the proposals despite their climate activism and net-zero commitments, according to RAN. Public pensions in New York, Rhode Island, Seattle and New York City all vowed to support the resolutions.

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynahan speaks alongside Special Presidential Envoy on Climate John Kerry and other leaders at the United Nations climate conference on Nov. 4, 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images)

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynahan speaks alongside Special Presidential Envoy on Climate John Kerry and other leaders at the United Nations climate conference on Nov. 4, 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images)

“It’s deeply disappointing that, once again, asset managers like BlackRock and Vanguard have failed to put their money where their mouth is and use their immense power to hold banks accountable to their climate pledges,” Sierra Club Fossil-Free Finance campaign representative Adele Shraiman stated.

Blackrock alone has led multiple hundred-million-dollar initiatives supporting the green transition. Along with Vanguard and State Street, Blackrock backed a move from hedge fund Engine No. 1 to elect climate activists to fossil fuel giant ExxonMobil’s board last year.

Such “woke” proposals are part of the sustainable investing craze that has taken Wall Street by storm over the last several years. Corporations, from big banks to consumer brands, have increasingly unveiled environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives, addressing climate impacts, diversity programs and minority representation in their boardroom.

The Democratic-majority Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed a series of rules that would require public companies to disclose a wide-range of climate information regarding their business operations in March.

“Congress is really unwilling to impose much in the way of costs and to address climate change,” David Kreutzer, the senior economist at the Institute for Energy Research, previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Frustrated by that, people in Washington want to use non-legislative ways to impose these costs and raise the price of energy-intensive goods and energy in general.”

Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee have taken a hard stance against ESG policies, arguing such policies are outside the scope of the limited authority given to the SEC, Department of Labor and Federal Reserve.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel