With the 2026 AGM season now upon us, we are deep into the process of voting proxies and tracking the overall trends and developments regarding this year's shareholder meetings. We have now closed the book on 2025, a year in which we voted at shareholder meetings representing 92% of our invested capital in listed equities at a total of 2138 shareholder meetings, and shifted our focus ahead to 2026, but with the same expectation of continuing to vote in the best interest of our clients.
Tightening expectations
Prior to this year's proxy season, we have incorporated some minor adjustments to the voting guidelines we use. Taking market standards into account, our expectations of companies regarding the diversity of the board directors in Japan and India are ramped up, from a guideline minimum of at least one woman on the board, to at least 20% of women on the board. While these countries' corporate codes specify that at least one woman should serve on a board of directors, we are expecting corporations in these countries to raise the bar on their approach to more than just the bare minimum.
Changes observed
The 2026 proxy season has so far been defined by a sharp decline in environmental and social (E&S) shareholder proposals, primarily in the United States, alongside a shift toward private engagement and off‑ballot outcomes. According to Proxy Preview 2026 (an excellent resource provided by the organizations As You Sow and Proxy Impact), 184 E&S‑related proposals had been filed at U.S. companies as of mid‑March, representing a 47% decrease compared with 2025.
Importantly, the decline in filings does not necessarily signal waning investor interest in sustainability: rather, it is likely a symptom of a shift in the regulatory landscape leading filers to be either more cautious or restricted. We touch more on these underlying developments in our deep dive into this topic, published in the special focus section "Reinforcing Corporate Governance" in the Q1 2026 edition of our Sustainable Investment Review.
Without necessarily drawing any causal links, the developments mentioned in our deep dive on the regulatory landscape can perhaps be said to have had at least somewhat of a spill-over effect from the United States to Europe, as noted in the example below.
BP case significant
Although the following example refers to a shareholder meeting in Q2, it is worth shining a light on due to its significance: BP, the British oil and gas company, excluded a shareholder resolution from the Dutch non-profit shareholder climate mobilization group Follow This, from the ballot of its 2026 AGM, that was asking the company to share its longer-term strategy under scenarios of declining oil and gas demand.
Despite the proposal having been properly filed and initially accepted as valid, the board later decided that the resolution would be "ineffective" if it were to pass, and decided to exclude it.
According to Follow This, this is the first time that has happened at a British company. With this unprecedented action on a proposal that directly concerned its own strategic discretion, BP curtailed shareholders' primary mechanism of accountability, which is the vote. Additionally, the board proposed to revoke two shareholdermandated climate disclosure obligations, voted on and passed at previous shareholder meetings, and embedded in BP's constitution in 2015 and 2019, in a move that would make the company less transparent and less accountable to shareholders regarding its climate strategy.
The moves are all problematic from a shareholder democracy perspective, restricting its shareholders from raising an issue with material implications for investors and attempting to backtrack on commitments previously made to shareholders. For these reasons, Storebrand AM decided to vote against the re-election of the entire Board. Additionally, we voted against the revocation of the previously passed resolutions, while also voting against the adoption of new articles of association, as well as voting for a shareholder resolution for enhanced disclosures about the company's investment decision-making, particularly related to climate-related capital allocation.
Further notes
During the ongoing AGM season, we have voted on multiple other voting items concerning environmental and social matters. One example is our recent vote for a shareholder resolution filed at Volvo's AGM concerning climate lobbying. The proposal, which concerns one of our priority engagement areas, closely resembled a proposal which Storebrand AM co-filed at Toyota Motor's 2023 AGM.
Another example, covering the spectrum of E, S, and G is our voting for multiple shareholder resolutions at the AGMs of five major Canadian banks. The proposals:
1) ask the Board of Directors adopt a new skills diversification policy tailored to include key areas such as: Climate and sustainability, Social and racial equity, Relations with Indigenous people, Ethics of artificial intelligence, and Community impact and responsible investment;
2) ask the Board of Directors to form a standing advisory committee on the systemic impact of the Bank's decisions, which would include analyzing the systemic impact of the Bank's strategic decisions on: Economic inequality, Access to property, Climate and energy transition, Social and territorial stability, and Human rights;
3) ask the company to adopt an annual advisory voting policy with regard to its environmental and climate objectives and action plan.
A final example is Storebrand AM's voting for shareholder proposals asking A.P. Moller-Maersk, a logistics company, to conduct, document, and publicly report annually on its human rights due diligence processes in accordance with the UNGPs with particular attention to activities in conflict-affected and high-risk areas (CAHRA).
With the AGM season ramping up in Q2, there will be plenty more to digest, which we will report on as we go along.