Proxy Preview 2026: Shareholders’ Powerful Voices Cannot Be Silenced
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
As the SEC attacks investor’s rights, shareholders continue to be an early-warning system by demanding disclosure and long-term vision
MEDIA CONTACT: Ryon Harms, [email protected], (310) 730-9407
EL CERRITO, CALIFORNIA—APRIL 16, 2026—Today, Proxy Preview 2026, a comprehensive annual review of environmental, social, and sustainable governance (ESG) shareholder proposals was released by As You Sow and Proxy Impact. This 22nd edition is being published at a time of political pressure and shifting strategies leading to more behind-the-scenes dialogues and fewer shareholder resolutions filed. This is a result of both companies and proponents preferring to meet privately to discuss matters that may draw the ire of a hostile administration and an SEC that has made unilateral rule changes intended to silence investor voices.
In 2026, 184 environmental, social and sustainable governance related shareholder resolutions were filed. This is a 47% reduction compared to 2025. The top concerns were corporate political influence with 45 proposals calling for disclosure on lobbying and political spending. Climate change had 39 proposals filed, most asking companies to disclose their climate transition plans and emissions targets, while others focus on climate financing.
The next largest categories were environmental management and human rights with 30 proposals each and workplace issues with 24. Ongoing areas of environmental concern are plastic pollution, pesticide use, animal welfare, deforestation and biodiversity loss. Investors also continue to raise work-related questions about diversity, supply chain conditions, freedom of association, and living wage. Shareholders are showing increasing concern with how artificial intelligence affects human rights, privacy and military activity and this will likely be a growing area of interest.
The majority of proposals on health are requesting information on toxins in food and other additives. The majority of sustainable governance proposals are on board oversight of issues including climate change, Indigenous Peoples rights, and artificial intelligence.
New issues this year include AI data center impacts on electricity ratepayers and community water resources; AI impacts on the workforce; the misuse of customer data and surveillance by third parties; the insurance industry’s potential to recoup climate related losses through subrogation practices; the effectiveness of partisan political spending; the impacts of US immigration policy on operations; and linking executive pay to improved climate safety metrics.
Proxy Preview also continues to provide expert insight on the political and legal context on the changes at the SEC and the escalation of regulatory, legal, and political attacks on shareholder rights.
“The new direction of the SEC may have had an impact on the number of shareholder proposals filed in 2026, but the data does not tell the whole story,” said Amy Galland, Proxy Preview co-author. “The landscape is shifting with an increased emphasis on shareholder direct engagement with companies.”
After most of the 2026 resolutions were already filed, the SEC unilaterally changed the rules by no longer making determination rulings on “no-action” filings. This means that corporations can decide to omit shareholder proposals without filing a no-action brief and having the proponent file a defense. This change has led to six lawsuits by proponents, so far five have settled and the companies agreed to put the proposals in their proxies.
In addition, the SEC has attempted to suppress proponents from communicating with fellow shareholders by ending their access to upload exempt solicitations (aka proxy memos) to the SEC operated EDGAR database – which provides public access to corporate information – unless the proponent has at least $5 million in share value.
“We have seen an increase in broad political and legal attacks on shareholder rights, sustainable investing, institutional investors, proxy analysts, and publicly traded companies that support climate and diversity efforts,” said Michael Passoff, CEO of Proxy Impact and co-author of Proxy Preview. ”Shareholders have responded by successfully modifying proposals to meet new SEC requirements, expanding their behind the scenes engagements with companies, and filing lawsuits to protect their rights.”
“Shareholders are the early warning system built into the structure of capitalism,” said Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow, publisher of Proxy Preview. “For example, over the past seven years a group of investors explained to Meta’s executives and board over and over, that harming children was unacceptable, their platform was defective, and it would come back to haunt them. With two major jury decisions in March, it is clear that this warning was ignored, causing a generation of harm and potential monetary damages that may exceed tobacco and opioids. The best management teams respect and appreciate the long-term vision of their investors who put forth these resolutions.”
Proxy Preview does not track the number of anti-ESG proposals as the proponents do not share this information. It should be noted that in 2025 shareholders consistently rejected these proposals by near-unanimous votes. "In 2025 we saw over 30 votes of 98% and 99% against anti-DEI proposals at Costco, Deere, Apple, Disney, and other major companies,” Behar added. “Investors have seen long-term data clearly showing that greater diversity leads to financial outperformance. We are asking that companies continue to disclose this information as they hire and promote based on merit to build a workforce dedicated to excellence.”
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Proxy Preview is a collaboration between As You Sow and Proxy Impact. Proxy Preview provides the most comprehensive free data on hundreds of ESG shareholder resolutions on environmental, corporate political influence, human rights, diversity, and sustainable governance issues.