Australian ESG Shareholder Resolutions

An open dataset of shareholder resolutions and statements on environmental or social issues that have been put to Australia's largest 200 public companies.

The following table sets out the history of shareholder resolutions and statements on environmental or social issues in Australia over the past two decades.

This table deals solely with the largest 200 companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange – the ASX 200. If you are aware of any resolutions on environmental or social issues put in the last decade to a general meeting of ASX 200 company not listed in this table we would be very glad to hear from you.

Year	Company	Category	Type of resolution	Resolution Content	Lead Filer	Institutional Cofiler	Result	References
2023	Woodside Energy Group	Governance	Members' Statements	Re-election of directors to the Woodside Energy board	ACCR	Vision Super; Betashares	34.81% against Ian Macfarlane; 13.43% against Larry Archibald; and 10% against Swee Chen Goh	81
2022	BHP Group Ltd	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	ACCR		9.24% support	80
2022	BHP Group Ltd	Climate Change	Ordinary	Climate Policy Advocacy	ACCR		12.73% support	80
2022	BHP Group Ltd	Climate Change	Ordinary	Climate Sensitivity Analysis	ACCR		18.67% support	80
2022	Origin Energy Ltd	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	ACCR		Withdrawn	79
2022	Origin Energy Ltd	Climate Change	Ordinary	Climate Sensitivity Analysis	ACCR		Withdrawn	79
2022	Rio Tinto	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	ACCR		Withdrawn	78
2022	Rio Tinto	Climate Change	Ordinary	Climate related lobbying	ACCR		Withdrawn	78
2022	Woodside Energy	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	ACCR		6.43% support	77
2022	Woodside Energy	Climate Change	Ordinary	Climate related lobbying	ACCR		12.4% support	77
2022	Woodside Energy	Climate Change	Ordinary	Decommissioning	ACCR		12.06% support	77
2022	Santos Ltd	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	ACCR		4.99% support	76
2022	Santos Ltd	Climate Change	Ordinary	Climate related lobbying	ACCR		14.58% support	76
2022	Santos Ltd	Climate Change	Ordinary	Decommissioning	ACCR		15.63% support	76
2021	Incitec Pivot	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	ACCR		7.48% support	75
2021	Incitec Pivot	Climate Change	Ordinary	Paris-aligned targets	ACCR		43.71% support	75
2021	Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ)	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	Market Forces		5.8% support	74
2021	Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ)	Climate Change	Ordinary	Approve Transition Planning Disclosure	Market Forces		14.77% support	74
2021	National Australia Bank Limited	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	Market Forces		5% support	73
2021	National Australia Bank Limited	Climate Change	Ordinary	Transition Planning Disclosure	Market Forces		10.6% support	73
2021	Westpac Banking Corporation	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	Market Forces		6.9% support	72
2021	Westpac Banking Corporation	Climate Change	Ordinary	Transition Planning Disclosure	Market Forces		12.85% support	72
2021	BHP	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	ACCR		11.83% support	71
2021	BHP	Climate Change	Ordinary	Climate related lobbying	ACCR		98.92% support	71
2021	BHP	Climate Change	Ordinary	Capital protection	Market Forces		14.20% support	71
2021	Fortescue Metals Group	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	ACCR		4.20% support	70
2021	Fortescue Metals Group	Cultural Heritage	Ordinary	Australian cultural heritage protection law	ACCR		15.62% support	70
2021	South32	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	ACCR		6.36% support	69
2021	South32	Climate Change	Ordinary	Climate related lobbying	ACCR		98.21% support	69
2021	Commonwealth Bank Of Australia	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	Market Forces		5.6% support	68
2021	Commonwealth Bank Of Australia	Climate Change	Ordinary	Transition Planning Disclosure	Market Forces		14.98% support	68
2021	QBE Insurance Group Ltd.	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	Market Forces	Australian Ethical	3.6% support	67
2021	QBE Insurance Group Ltd.	Climate Change	Ordinary	Transition Planning Disclosure	Market Forces	Australian Ethical	21.4% support	67
2021	Origin Energy	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	ACCR		6.88% support	66
2021	Origin Energy	Climate Change	Ordinary	Climate related lobbying	ACCR		36.63% support	66
2021	Origin Energy	Climate Change	Ordinary	Paris-aligned capital expenditure	ACCR		43.65% support	66
2021	Origin Energy	Cultural Heritage	Ordinary	Water	Getup		8.38% support	66
2021	Origin Energy	Cultural Heritage	Ordinary	Cultural Heritage	Getup		6.15% support	66
2021	Origin Energy	Cultural Heritage	Ordinary	Consent and FPIC	Getup		10.97% support	66
2021	AGL	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	ACCR		4.36% support	65
2021	AGL	Climate Change	Ordinary	Paris goals and targets	ACCR		52.56% support	65
2021	Rio Tinto	Climate Change	Ordinary	Emissions Targets	Market Forces		99.02% support	64
2021	Rio Tinto	Climate Change	Ordinary	Climate-related lobbying	ACCR		99.04% support	64
2021	Oil Search Ltd	Climate Change	Special	Say On Climate framework	ACCR		Withdrawn	63
2021	Oil Search Ltd	Climate Change	Ordinary	Capital protection	Market Forces		9.57% support	63
2021	Woodside Energy	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	Market Forces		5.17% support	62
2021	Woodside Energy	Climate Change	Ordinary	Capital Protection	Market Forces		19.07% support	62
2021	Woodside Energy	Climate Change	Special	Say On Climate framework	ACCR		Withdrawn	62
2021	Santos	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	Market Forces		5.38% support	61
2021	Santos	Climate Change	Special	Say On Climate framework	ACCR		Withdrawn	61
2021	Santos	Climate Change	Ordinary	Capital protection	Market Forces		13.28% support	61
2021	Scentre Group	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	ACCR		Withdrawn	60
2021	Scentre Group	Worker's Rights	Ordinary	Wage theft protection	ACCR		Withdrawn	60
2020	NAB	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	Market Forces		6.92% support	59
2020	NAB	Climate Change	Ordinary	Transition planning disclosure	Market Forces		26.3% support	59
2020	ANZ	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	Market Forces		8.00% support	58
2020	ANZ	Climate Change	Ordinary	Transition planning disclosure	Market Forces		28.74% support	58
2020	IAG	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	Colong Wilderness Foundation		Withdrawn	57
2020	IAG	World Heritage	Special	IAG World Heritage Policy	Colong Wilderness Foundation		Withdrawn	57
2020	Beach Energy	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	Market Forces		3.09% support	56
2020	Beach Energy	Climate Change	Ordinary	Capital protection	Market Forces		5.38% support	56
2020	New Hope	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	Market Forces		0.61% support	55
2020	New Hope	Climate Change	Ordinary	Capital protection	Market Forces		3.44% support	55

2020	Cooper Energy	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	Market Forces		6.31% support	54
2020	Cooper Energy	Climate Change	Ordinary	Capital protection	Market Forces		7.39% support	54
2020	Whitehaven	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	Market Forces		0.37%	53
2020	Whitehaven	Climate	Ordinary	Capital Protection	Market Forces		3.97%	53
2020	Origin Energy	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	ACCR		9.16% support	52
2020	Origin Energy	Cultural Heritage	Ordinary	Consent and fracking	ACCR		11.80% support	52
2020	Origin Energy	Lobbying	Ordinary	Lobbying related to COVID-19 recovery	ACCR		25.25% support	52
2020	BHP	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	ACCR		9.6% support	51
2020	BHP	Cultural Heritage	Ordinary	Cultural Heritage Protection	ACCR		Withdrawn, 7.49% proxy support prior to withdrawl	51
2020	BHP	Lobbying	Ordinary	Lobbying related to COVID-19 recovery	ACCR		22.4% support	51
2020	AGL	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	ACCR		5.06% support	50
2020	AGL	Climate Change	Ordinary	Coal Closure Dates	ACCR		19.96% support	50
2020	QBE	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	Market Forces		4.27% support	49
2020	QBE	Climate Change	Ordinary	Exposure reduction targets	Market Forces		6.73% support	49
2020	QBE	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	Colong Wilderness Foundation		4.27% support	49
2020	QBE	Climate Change	Ordinary	QBE World Heritage Policy	Colong Wilderness Foundation		6.73% support	49
2020	Rio Tinto	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	Market Forces		8.79% support	48
2020	Rio Tinto	Climate Change	Ordinary	Transition planning disclosure	Market Forces		36.93% support	48
2020	Rio Tinto	Climate Change	Ordinary	Climate Related Lobbying	ACCR		Withdrawn	47
2020	Woodside	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	ACCR		6.28% support	46
2020	Woodside	Climate Change	Ordinary	Paris goals and targets	ACCR		50.16% support	46
2020	Woodside	Climate Change	Ordinary	Climate Related Lobbying	ACCR		42.66% support	46
2020	Woodside	Social Engagement	Ordinary	Corporate Reputation Advertising	ACCR		2.71% support	46
2020	Santos	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	ACCR		6.68% support	45
2020	Santos	Climate Change	Ordinary	Paris goals and targets	ACCR		43.39% support	45
2020	Santos	Climate Change	Ordinary	Climate Related Lobbying	ACCR		46.35% support	45
2019	NAB	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	Market Forces		5.84% support	44
2019	NAB	Climate Change	Ordinary	Transition Planning Disclosure	Market Forces		12.89% support	44
2019	NAB	Climate Change	Ordinary	Lobbying inconsistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement	ACCR		15.07% support	44
2019	ANZ	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	Market Forces		5.37% support	43
2019	ANZ	Climate Change	Ordinary	Transition Planning Disclosure	Market Forces		14.69% support	43
2019	ANZ	Climate Change	Ordinary	Lobbying inconsistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement	ACCR		16.53% support	43
2019	Westpac	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	Market Forces		8.04% support	42
2019	Westpac	Climate Change	Ordinary	Disclosure of strategies and targets in relation to fossil fuel exposure	Market Forces		16.9% support	42
2019	Coles	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	ACCR		3.36% support	41
2019	Coles	Workers Rights	Ordinary	Fresh food supply chain practices	ACCR	LUCRF, St Columbans and Mercy Investment Services	12.79% support	41
2019	BHP	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	ACCR		9.54% support at the BHP Billiton Ltd AGM in Sydney	40
2019	BHP	Climate Change	Ordinary	Lobbying	ACCR	CofE, Vision Super, MP Pension, ACTIAM, Grok Ventures	29.58% support at the BHP Billiton Ltd AGM in Sydney, 22.16% support at the BHP Billiton PLC AGM in London	40
2019	Qantas	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	ACCR		3.42% support	39
2019	Qantas	Human Rights	Ordinary	Human Rights Risks	ACCR	Mercy Investment Services	23.56% support	39
2019	IAG	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	Market Forces		5.51%	38
2019	IAG	Climate Change	Ordinary	Disclosure of targets to reduce investment exposure in fossil fuels	Market Forces		11.5% support	38
2019	Origin	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	Market Forces		6.79% support	37
2019	Origin	Climate Change	Ordinary	Transition planning disclosure	Market Forces		5.35% support	37
2019	Origin	FPIC	Ordinary	Free, Prior and Informed Consent	ACCR		5.52% support	37
2019	Origin	Climate Change	Ordinary	Public health risks of coal operations	ACCR		6.56% support	37
2019	Origin	Climate Change	Ordinary	Paris goals and targets	ACCR		7.90% support	37
2019	Origin	Climate Change	Ordinary	Lobbying	ACCR		withdrawn	37
2019	Suncorp	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	Market Forces		4.19% support	36
2019	Suncorp	Climate Change	Ordinary	Disclosure of targets to reduce investment exposure in fossil fuels	Market Forces		8.7% support	36
2019	AGL	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	Market Forces		6.57% support	35
2019	AGL	Climate Change	Ordinary	Transition planning disclosure	Market Forces		30.33% support	35
2019	AGL	Climate Change	Ordinary	Public health risks of coal operations	ACCR		10.85% support	35
2019	Rio Tinto	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	Market Forces		2.36% support	34
2019	Rio Tinto	Climate Change	Ordinary	Transition planning disclosure	Market Forces		6.00% support	34
2019	Rio Tinto	Climate Change	Ordinary	Public Policy advocacy on climate change and energy by Relevant Industry Associations	ACCR		withdrawn	34
2019	QBE	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	Market Forces		2.31% support	33
2019	QBE	Climate Change	Ordinary	Exposure reduction targets	Market Forces		7.83% support	33
2018	Wagners Holding Company	Climate Change	Special	Manage company consistent with 2C	Galilee Blockade		4.36% support	32
2018	Westpac	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	ACCR		withdrawn	31
2018	Westpac	Climate Change	Ordinary	Public Policy advocacy on climate change and energy by Relevant Industry Associations	ACCR		withdrawn	31
2018	Woolworths	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	ACCR		5.79% support	30
2018	Woolworths	Human Rights	Ordinary	Human Rights Reporting	ACCR	LUCRF Super	14.92% support	30
2018	Qantas	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	ACCR		4.26% support	29
2018	Qantas	Human Rights	Ordinary	Human Rights Due Diligence	ACCR		6.43% support	29
2018	Whitehaven	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	Market Forces		9.71% support	28
2018	Whitehaven	Climate Change	Ordinary	Climate Risk Disclosure	Market Forces		40.14% support	28
2018	Whitehaven	Climate Change	Ordinary	Strategy Alignment	Market Forces		2.79% support	28
2018	Origin	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	ACCR		4.68% support	27
2018	Origin	FPIC	Ordinary	Free, Prior and Informed consent	ACCR		7.73% support	27
2018	Origin	Climate Change	Ordinary	Interim Emission Targets	ACCR		11.83% support	27
2018	Origin	Political Lobbying	Ordinary	Public Policy advocacy on climate change and energy by Relevant Industry Associations	ACCR		46.32% support	27
2018	QBE	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	Market Forces		9.12% support	26
2018	QBE	Climate Chanage	Ordinary	Climate risk disclosure (TCFD)	Market Forces		18.6% support	26
2018	Rio Tinto	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	ACCR		10.66% support	25
2018	Rio Tinto	Political Lobbying	Ordinary	Review political lobbying through trade associations	ACCR	Local Government Super, Church of England Pensions Board, The Seventh Swedish National Pension Fund (AP7)	18.03% support	25
2018	Santos	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	Market Forces		4.00% support	24
2018	Santos	Methane	Ordinary	Disclose management of methane emissions	Market Forces		9.82% support	24
2017	Downer-EDI	Climate Change	Special	Amend Constitution to ensure 2 degrees C max warming compatible management			3.3% support	23
2017	BHP	Governance	Special	2017 BHP Special - Governance Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	ACCR		7% support at the BHP Billiton Ltd AGM in Melbourne, 7.1% support at the BHP Billiton PLC AGM in London	22
2017	BHP	Political Lobbying	Ordinary	Review political lobbying through trade associations	ACCR		10% support at the BHP Billiton Ltd AGM in Melbourne, 7.8% support at the BHP Billiton PLC AGM in London	22
2017	Woolworths	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	ACCR		Resolution withdrawn prior to the meeting as a result of agreement with the company. 5.85% support
2017	Woolworths	Human Rights	Ordinary	Address human rights risks in the supply chain	ACCR	LUCRF Super and NUW	Resolution withdrawn prior to meeting as a result of agreement with company.15.55% support
2017	CBA	Climate Change	Special	Amend Constitution to ensure 2° C max warming compatible management	Market Forces		2.9% support	20
2017	Origin	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	Market Forces		4.67% support	19
2017	Origin	Climate Change	Ordinary	Climate risk disclosure (TCFD)	Market Forces		13.77% support	19
2017	Origin	Climate Change	Ordinary	Disclose transition planning	Market Forces		3.43% support	19
2017	Origin	Methane	Ordinary	Disclose management of methane emissions	Market Forces		4.84% support	19
2017	Oilsearch	Human Rights	Ordinary	Human rights compliance and reporting	ACCR		6.2% support	18
2017	Oilsearch	Climate Change	Ordinary	Strategic resilience	Market Forces		Withdrawn at the meeting on the basis of commitments made beforehand.	18
2017	Santos	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory	Market Forces		6.97% support	17
2017	Santos	Climate Change	Ordinary	Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (“TCFD”)	Market Forces		Proxy voting figures not disclosed at AGM	17

Pre 2016

Year	Company	Category	Type of resolution	Resolution Content	Lead Filer	Result	References
2015	Origin	Climate Change	Special	Disclosure of emissions management, scenario exposure, public policy positions	Caroline Le Couteur, ACCR	6.4% support and 1.5% absentions
2015	AGL	Climate Change	Special	Prepare business model to ensure profitability under pathways that limit the world to 2° C warming; and (b) disclosure power generation and supply chain emissions management	Caroline Le Couteur, ACCR	5.1% support with 2.9% abstentions
2015	ANZ	Governance	Special	Amend Constitution to permit advisory resolutions	Caroline Le Couteur, ACCR	10.50% support
2015	ANZ	Climate Change	Ordinary	Financed emissions disclosure	Caroline Le Couteur, ACCR	Proxy voting results not disclosed
2014	ANZ	Climate Change	Special	Disclose extent of financed emissions	Caroline Le Couteur, ACCR	2.95% support
2014	CBA	Climate Change	Special	Disclose extent of financed emissions	Caroline Le Couteur, ACCR	3.92% support
2014	Santos	Climate Change	Special	The shareholders called for Santos to protect its reputation by withdrawing from the Narrabri Gas Project	Jess Lerch (The Wilderness Society)	0.78% support	11
2012	Woolworths	Gambling	Special	Amend constitution to limit extent of involvement in electronic gaming machines	Paul Oosting, GetUP!	2.5% support	10a 10b
2011	ANZ	Climate Change	Ordinary	Disclose extent of financing of GHG emissions	Trevor Thomas, Ethinvest	Not considered	9
2011	Oilsearch	Climate Change	Ordinary	Adopt goals to reduce carbon footprint	Howard Pender, AIE	Withdrawn	8
2011	Woodside	Climate Change	Special	Disclosure of assumptions about future carbon emissions permit pricing	Howard Pender, AIE	5.7% support	7
2010	Paladin	Climate Change	Ordinary	Disclosure of carbon emission footprint	Howard Pender, AIE	Not considered	6
2010	Aquila Resources	Climate Change	Ordinary	Disclosure of carbon emission footprint	Howard Pender, AIE	Not considered	5
2003	Gunns	Deforestation	Special	Amend constitution to prohibit logging in particular areas	N/A	0.6% support	4
2003	Boral	Governance	Ordinary	Include GRI style reporting with annual report	N/A	5.7% support	3
2003	CBA	Deforestation	Special	Provide shareholders with a report on procedures for managing environmental risks particularly CBA financing logging of old-growth forests	N/A	25% support	2
2002	NAB	Deforestation	Special	Amend the constitution to preclude involvement in logging old-growth forests	N/A	20.5% support	1

Since 2002. In 1999 the Wilderness Society put resolutions to Wesfarmers and a uranium miner North Ltd.
Excludes resolutions put by unions eg CFMEU to Rio Tinto in 2000, TWU resolutions to Boral in 2003 , FSU campaign to appoint a union member to the ANZ board in 2003, AWU resolutions to Bluescope Steel in 2004 & the FSU campaign to amend the CBA constitution in regard dealing with significant restructures in 2004. For further details of these union related resolutions see Anderson, K and Ramsey, I “From the picket line to the boardroom: union shareholder activism in Australia” 2005.