The Toronto-Dominion Bank | Advisory vote on environmental policy at The Toronto-Dominion Bank

Status
27.00% votes in favour
AGM date
Previous AGM date
Proposal number
3
Resolution details
Resolution ask
Adopt or amend a policy
ESG theme
  • Environment
ESG sub-theme
  • Fossil fuel financing
Type of vote
Shareholder proposal
Filer type
Shareholder
Company sector
Financials
Company HQ country
Canada
Resolved clause
It is proposed that the bank adopt an annual advisory voting policy with regard to its environmental and climate action plan and objectives. 
Supporting statement
At the banks’ 2018 annual shareholders’ meetings, we presented the banks with a shareholder proposal to invite them to publish a brief annual report allowing their shareholders to assess their exposure to climate risk and their contribution to the transition to a low-carbon economy. Your sustainable development and social responsibility reports are a testament to the actions taken or planned to enable the activation of a country-specific economy in the coming years.  A report published in December 2020 by the Rainforest Action Network led us to question the relevance of the proposed objectives and action plans. According to the report, RBC, TD and Scotia were among the top 10 companies in the world to finance fossil fuels, providing more than $89B to oil companies in 2019. BMO and CIBC ranked 16th and 21st, respectively, with a total of nearly $42B.  This commitment to funding such activities and its sustained nature over the past few years is far from the type of behaviour desired to address the alarming findings presented in the draft report published in June 2021 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Much more alarmist than the final report published in 2014, in this draft it is believed that, regardless of the rate at which greenhouse gas emissions are reduced, the devastating consequences of global warming on the nature and humanity that depend on it will accelerate and become painfully palpable well before 2050: “Life on Earth can recover from major climate change by evolving into new species and creating new ecosystems. Humanity cannot,” these experts note.  Added to this data is the concern of Tiff Macklem, Governor General of the Bank of Canada, who, in a speech delivered in November 2020, called for a faster response by the country to address climate change, in order to avoid the economic repercussions it could have on households and businesses. He called on financial institutions to better assess the risks they face in this area. For all of these reasons, it is proposed that the Bank agree to adopt an advisory voting policy with respect to its environmental and climate action plan and objectives, in order to verify that it meets the expectations of its shareholders and all stakeholders. 

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