Every year from April to June, publicly traded companies hold their annual shareholder meetings, in which every investor with a financial stake in the company votes on a series of resolutions, many of which are introduced by shareholders themselves. This voting period is known as “Proxy Season.” The number of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) resolutions introduced in 2022 signals a rising level of engagement by shareholders that appears promising; the number of ESG shareholder proposals rose 20% since 2021, for a total of 529 ESG shareholder resolutions filed in 2022.

January marked the official release of a new report by Corporate Knights that finds that Colorado’s pension fund, Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA), is valued at $2.7 billion less than it would have been had it divested from fossil fuels a decade ago. This represents an opportunity cost of over $4,100 per PERA member.

Denver – Since the Paris Climate Agreement, the world’s 60 biggest banks have financed fossil fuels to the tune of $4.6 trillion. Runaway funding for fossil fuel extraction and infrastructure fuels climate chaos and threatens the lives and livelihoods of millions. US banks are the top fossil fuel funders. That’s why 350CO took to the streets in Denver Saturday dressed as zombies to protest fossil fuel financing, calling on the Wall Street banks and the Federal Reserve to phase out fossil fuel funding by 2030.