NATIONAL GRID PLC | Authorise company to make up to £125,000 in political donations

Status
97.76% votes in favour
AGM date
Previous AGM date
Proposal number
17
Resolution details
Company ticker
NG.
Submitted by
-
Resolution ask
Strengthen board oversight of issue
ESG theme
  • Environment
ESG sub-theme
  • Lobbying / political engagement
Type of vote
Other management proposal or proxy item
Filer type
Management
Company sector
Utilities
Company HQ country
United Kingdom
Resolved clause
To authorise the Company and those companies which are subsidiaries of the Company at any time during the period for which this resolution has effect for the purposes of Part 14 of the Companies Act 2006 (the ‘2006 Act’):

(i) to make political donations to political parties, and/or independent election candidates not exceeding £125,000 in aggregate;
(ii) to make political donations to political organisations other than political parties, not exceeding £125,000 in aggregate; and
(iii) to incur political expenditure, not exceeding £125,000 in aggregate provided that the aggregate amount of any such donations and expenditure shall not exceed £125,000 during the period commencing on the date of passing of this resolution and ending at the earlier of the close of the next annual general meeting or 30 September 2024.
Whereas clause
The Church of England Pensions Board has expressed its intention to vote against a resolution, put forward by National Grid management, requesting shareholder support to make large political donations (up to £125,000).

For further details, access: https://www.churchofengland.org/media-and-news/press-releases/church-england-pensions-board-pre-declares-vote-against-chair-and-ceo
Supporting statement
Excerpt taken from statement released by The Church of England Pensions Board:


"The Church of England Pensions Board has a longstanding commitment to act on corporate climate lobbying, given the significant influence that companies and their industry associations can have on public climate change policy. The Pensions Board is one of a group of investors which developed the Global Standard on Responsible Climate Lobbying, which provides a clear set of best-practice indicators companies can apply to report on their climate policy and industry association activities.

National Grid has been independently assessed by InfluenceMap, which looks at the lobbying practices of companies and industry associations on climate change, as being active in lobbying on climate policy, particularly in the United States."

How other organisations have declared their voting intentions

Organisation name Declared voting intentions Rationale
AP7 For We welcome National Grid’s commitment to undertake regular lobbying reviews as communicated in the updated Global Corporate Policy on Responsible Lobbying and Political Engagement. AP7 has revised its previous voting intentions as a result of the decision.

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