THE BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA | Advisory Vote on Environmental Policies at THE BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA

Status
17.49% votes in favour
AGM date
Previous AGM date
Proposal number
1
Resolution details
Company ticker
BNS
Lead filer
Mouvement d'éducation et de défense des actionnaires (MÉDAC)
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
Be it proposed that the Bank adopt an annual advisory voting policy regarding its environmental and climate objectives
and action plan.
Whereas clause
We tabled this proposal at the 2022 annual meetings and it received strong support from TD (25.4%), CIBC (22.7%), National Bank (22%), Royal Bank (20.2%), Scotiabank (19.3%) and BMO (15%). Furthermore, Laurentian Bank has agreed to implement a non-binding advisory vote on the environment once it has established the reference level for its funded emissions. According to the most recent report published by Rainforest1, the five major banks provided in excess of $131bn to oil companies in 2021, an increase compared to 2020:

Note that these five major banks have lent or underwritten nearly $700bn to fossil fuel companies since the Paris Climate Agreement was signed in December 2015.
One may question the extent to which they intend to fulfil their commitment to join the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) launched by former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney in 2015 and to play a leading role in financing the climate transition to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
We therefore reiterate our proposal to implement a non-binding advisory vote so that shareholders can express their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the Bank’s environmental policy.

How other organisations have declared their voting intentions

Organisation name Declared voting intentions Rationale
KBI Global Investors For
Rathbones Group Plc For Rathbones will generally support shareholder resolutions making reasonable requests for increased transparency regarding ESG matters

DISCLAIMER: By including a shareholder resolution or management proposal in this database, neither the PRI nor the sponsor of the resolution or proposal is seeking authority to act as proxy for any shareholder; shareholders should vote their proxies in accordance with their own policies and requirements.

Any voting recommendations set forth in the descriptions of the resolutions and management proposals included in this database are made by the sponsors of those resolutions and proposals, and do not represent the views of the PRI.

Information on the shareholder resolutions, management proposals and votes in this database have been obtained from sources that are believed to be reliable, but the PRI does not represent that it is accurate, complete, or up-to-date, including information relating to resolutions and management proposals, other signatories’ vote pre-declarations (including voting rationales), or the current status of a resolution or proposal. You should consult companies’ proxy statements for complete information on all matters to be voted on at a meeting.