Agenda

Companies Under Fire Over Plastic Use

Plastic use and the risks associated with it are garnering more heat from stakeholder groups, including shareholders, the federal government, the United Nations and ESG accounting standard setters, which have targeted single-use plastics.

Boards should ensure that appropriate internal stakeholders are prepared for increased focus on the issue, which has generated popular shareholder proposals this proxy season, as well as new disclosure recommendations.

For example, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) put forth recommended changes to its chemical industry standard, which it laid out in a June 2022 project report. Among changes recommended by the SASB are the addition of a new disclosure topic, “Management of Single-use Plastics,” and five new metrics intended to capture risks associated with single-use plastics for the SASB chemicals industry standard.

…Meanwhile, environmental proxy proposals aimed at plastic use were submitted at several S&P 500 companies this year — Exxon Mobil, McDonald’s and Phillips 66. None of those three passed, according to public company intelligence provider MyLogIQ, but they generated high support levels, between 35% to 50%. Each was focused on the board’s producing a report pertaining to plastic use and potential reductions of some sort.

admin

Recent Posts

How ESG Metrics Are Taking Over Annual Incentive Plans

Compensation committees at S&P 500 companies are increasingly tying annual bonuses to measures beyond financial…

3 weeks ago

Visual Investigation: Pay Gaps Widen as Workforce Scrutiny Grows

The pay gap between CEOs and their employees has widened over the past half decade,…

1 month ago

In a Bumper Year for CEO Pay, One Chief’s $161 Million Award Swells to $1.3 Billion

Chip maker Broadcom gave Hock Tan, its chief executive, a $161 million stock award, instantly…

2 months ago

Are Companies Really Reincorporating in Nevada?

Elon's Musk's $56 billion pay package's upheaval, a hedge fund sanctioned for failing to preserve…

2 months ago

Are Check Marks ‘Cheap Talk’ in Board Skills Matrices?

Disclosures about directors' skills and expertise are increasingly coming under the microscope as investors ramp…

3 months ago

Boards Looking for ‘Soft Skills’ in New Crop of CEOs

On Jan. 1, several of the nation's biggest companies — including Morgan Stanley, Kraft Heinz,…

4 months ago