Dive Brief:
- BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, reported supporting less than 2% of environmental and social proposals at portfolio companies during the 2025 proxy season.
- The firm reported voting on 358 environmental and social proposals at global company boards, including 266 proposals at U.S. companies, according to a 2025 voting spotlight report. BlackRock voted for seven such proposals: five of the 229 proposals submitted regarding company impacts on people and two of the 129 on climate and natural capital.
- BlackRock’s support for environmental and social proposals has consecutively fallen the past four proxy seasons, after it supported over 40% of such proposals in the 2021 proxy season. The asset manager supported around 21% of environmental and social proposals in the 2022 proxy season, 7% of proposals in the 2023 season and 4% in 2024.
Dive Insight:
Average shareholder support for environmental and social proposals has declined over the past four proxy seasons from a 2021 high of 33%, according to a proxy preview report released last year. Though shareholder proposal submissions had previously been on the rise, submissions also decreased in the 2025 proxy season, while support for environmental and social proposals at S&P 1500 companies fell to 14%, according to Ernst & Young.
BlackRock said it voted on 36% less environmental and social proposals in the most recent proxy season than in 2024. The firm said the drop was “driven in part by a decrease in proposals filed by advocacy groups,” as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission’s mid-proxy season change to the no-action process.
The asset manager said in its voting spotlight report that it found many of the environmental and social proposals it voted on this year “were overreaching, lacked economic merit or sought outcomes that were unlikely to promote long-term financial value,” and “the majority also addressed business risks that companies already had processes in place to address.”
“Many companies are assessing how to navigate the low-carbon transition while delivering long-term financial value to investors,” the report said. “Over the past several years, [BlackRock] has observed continued evolution in company disclosures related to material climate-related risks. These changes reflect both regulatory developments in various jurisdictions and shifting market practices.”
BlackRock reported rejecting 249 environmental and social proposals due to companies having procedures in place, 112 for being too prescriptive and 33 for lacking economic merit, with some being rejected for multiple reasons.
BlackRock reported that among its 70,000 votes on director elections at portfolio companies this proxy season, it rejected 74 nominations — 0.1% of nominations — at 62 companies due to “concerns regarding inadequate disclosure or effective board oversight of climate-related risks.” In total the firm supported around 90% of board nominations.
Support for governance-related shareholder proposals remains relatively high globally, with BlackRock reporting a 35% median market support for such submissions in the most recent proxy season. The firm said such proposals were generally focused on issues of shareholder rights, including amendments to governance structures, executive compensation and capital or share structures.
Of the 764 global shareholder proposals BlackRock voted on in the most recent proxy season, 406 were related to governance matters. The firm voted in favor of 74 of these governance proposals, many of which it said concerned strengthening minority shareholders’ rights including proposals to adopt simple majority voting. At U.S. portfolio companies, 247 of its 513 votes were on governance matters.
The voting spotlight also included a disclosure about BlackRock’s policies regarding voting at shareholder meetings, and “voting in [its] clients’ long-term financial interests.” The firm said that “setting, executing and overseeing strategy are the responsibility of [a company’s] management and the board.” Additionally, BlackRock said it does not file proposals or nominations, disclose its votes before company meetings or view its role as being “to influence other investors’ proxy voting decisions.”
“As one of many minority shareholders on behalf of our clients, BlackRock does not direct a company’s strategy or its implementation,” the voting spotlight said. “[BlackRock} does not act collectively with other shareholders or organizations in voting shares and does not follow any proxy research firm’s voting recommendations.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and nine other states have sued BlackRock and fellow asset managers Vanguard and State Street, alleging the three “formed a cartel to rig the oil market.” A federal judge recently denied a bid to dismiss the case, though BlackRock had several state-level consumer protection suits dismissed in the ruling.
