Caterpillar Inc. | Climate Change Risks at Caterpillar Inc.

Status
Withdrawn
AGM date
Previous AGM date
Proposal number
4
Resolution details
Company ticker
CAT
Lead filer
As You Sow
Resolution ask
Report on or disclose
ESG theme
  • Environment
ESG sub-theme
  • Net Zero / Paris aligned
Type of vote
Shareholder proposal
Filer type
Shareholder
Company sector
Industrials
Company HQ country
United States
Resolved clause
Shareholders request that the Board of Directors issue a report at reasonable expense and excluding confidential information disclosing the Companys climate policies performance and improvement targets if any responsive to each of the indicators set forth in the Net Zero Benchmark or any rationale for failure to adopt such metrics.
Whereas clause
The increasing rate and number of climate-related disasters affecting society is causing alarms to be raised within the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government, making the corporate sector's contribution to climate mitigation a significant policy issue.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's Climate Related Risk Subcommittee recently issued a report finding that climate change poses a significant risk to, and could impair the productive capacity of, the U.S. economy.

Shareholders are increasingly concerned about material climate risk to both their companies and their portfolios and seek clear and consistent disclosures from the companies in which they invest.

In response to material climate risk, the steering committee of the Climate Action 100+ initiative (CA100+), a coalition of more than 500 investors with over USD47 trillion in assets, issued a Net Zero Company Benchmark (Benchmark) calling on the largest carbon emitting companies - including our Company - to work toward reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to net zero, improving climate governance, and providing specific climate related financial disclosures.

The Net Zero Benchmark includes ten indicators of company alignment with the Paris Agreement including a statement of ambition to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions ("Net Zero") by 2050 for the Company's Scope 1, 2, and applicable scope 3 emissions in alignment with the Paris 1.5 degree goal.

Caterpillar's climate related targets were set through the current year of 2020 and only address the companies Scope 1 and 2 emissions. This leaves significant emissions unaddressed and the company's long term decarbonization ambition unclear. In contrast, 15 peers in the construction materials sector have set, or committed to validate, their GHG targets through the Science-Based Targets initiative.

BlackRock notes that investment flows into "sustainable" and climate aligned assets will drive long term outperformance relative to companies perceived as having weaker sustainability characteristics;
Supporting statement
Proponents suggest, at Company discretion, the report provide:

Any Net Zero by 2050 GHG emissions reduction targets covering all relevant emissions scopes;

Any other medium or long term GHG reduction goals;

Any climate performance elements incorporated into executive remuneration.

How other organisations have declared their voting intentions

Organisation name Declared voting intentions Rationale
Kutxabank Gestion SGIIC SAU. For

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.