In this roundup:
- Overwhelming shareholder support for climate risk resolution filed by Just Share & Aeon Investment Management at Standard Bank.
- Coal miners Thungela & Exxaro challenged on climate change disclosure and transition plans.
- Absa unable to back up its claims that coal provides “reliable, safe, and affordable energy”, and that oil and gas development is important for economic development and aligned with the Paris Agreement.
- Nedbank & Old Mutual’s responses to questions about investments in Petmin raise concerns about their ESG leadership.
- Old Mutual backtracks on commitment to disclose wage gap.
- JSE relies on delisting fears in response to call for gender pay gap disclosure.
- The Spar Group commits to disclose wages of lowest-paid workers.
- Time for some changes to virtual AGM practices: preventing shareholders from asking questions verbally may breach the Companies Act.
Just Share has attended, and asked questions at, the following annual general meetings (AGMs), during the first half of this year:
- The SPAR Group Limited, 15 February 2022
- JSE Limited, 3 May 2022
- Thungela Resources Limited, 24 May 2022
- Exxaro Resources Limited, 25 May 2022
- Nedbank Group Limited, 27 May 2022
- Old Mutual Limited, 27 May 2022
- Standard Bank Group Limited, 31 May 2022
- Absa Group Limited, 3 June 2022
At these AGMs, we asked a total of 37 questions relating to inequality (wage / gender pay gaps and income inequality), diversity and transformation, climate change, and related governance issues.
The roundup summarises key questions and answers at these AGMs, sets out commitments made by companies in response to questions asked, and concludes with some reflections on AGM governance.
