The AGM as a site of contestation: Evaluating the tactics of environmental shareholder activists

Shareholder activist groups are increasingly engaging directly with company boards to reform corporate behaviour. This engagement, known as environmental, social, and governance (ESG) shareholder activism is on the rise, and listed company boards have never been under greater pressure to fully explain the ESG footprint of their business. This paper focuses on the case of ESG activism in the Australian mining, oil and gas sectors, where activist groups are pressuring companies to respond to the challenges of climate change. As activists have highlighted, Australian domestic emissions are amongst the highest in the world, and are accompanied by those caused by its significant coal exports. Yet, the country is seen as a climate laggard and there remains no market signals to encourage companies to reduce emissions. Using interviews with key activists and content analysis of shareholder resolutions, this paper examines the tactics of ESG activists through the development and analysis a new database of activist claims. It contributes to our understanding of social movements by demonstrating that activists switch strategies, depending on the openness of the target firm. It also demonstrates that firms which are relatively closed to activists’ claims continue to be targeted, while those with more open dialogue and significant private authority can force change within their industry. It is concluded that where there is a significant gap between societal expectations and government action, ESG activism remains a potentially effective method for addressing critical issues facing society.