Businesses face more and more pressure from investors to act on climate change

To avoid some of the worst impacts of climate change, greenhouse gas emissions need to be eliminated or offset by midcentury, according to the United Nations. To get there, activist investors say banks and insurance companies need to account for the emissions they contribute to by underwriting and investing in fossil fuel infrastructure like this natural gas plant in California. (David McNew/Getty Images)

Every spring, shareholders in publicly-traded companies get to weigh in on how they're run. It's a chance for investors to vote on proposals to shape corporate policies for things like executive pay and political spending. But as the Earth heats up, annual shareholder meetings have become a battleground for activist investors who are pressing companies for more aggressive action on climate change.

This year, shareholders filed around 540 proposals as of mid-February asking companies to address environmental, social and corporate governance issues, according to Proxy Preview. Resolutions focused on climate change accounted for about a quarter of this year's total, with the number increasing by about 12% from the same point in 2022.