Organization: Cohen & Steers Inc

Year: 2018

Description: Cohen & Steers is a respected company in the financial services industry. The company has an “ESG Policy” describing how environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues are incorporated into investment decisions, which affirms these factors can affect performance and thus need to be addressed as a fiduciary.  
 
Cohen & Steers subsidiaries invest money on behalf of clients and, as fiduciaries, are responsible for voting proxies of public equities.  Proxy voting is a primary mechanism for investors to express to management their opinions on many policies and practices.
 
In voting proxies Cohen & Steers focuses appropriately on clients’ economic interests and votes for a number of governance reforms, believing these issues affect shareholder value.
 
One of the important issues investors face is climate change. Yet Cohen & Steers appears to ignore this risk to investors.
 
In one of many statements by global leaders highlighting climate risk, Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England stated “the combination of the weight of scientific evidence and the dynamics of the financial system suggest that, in the fullness of time, climate change will threaten financial resilience and longer-term prosperity.”  BlackRock has also published an important paper on climate risk highlighting the challenges for investors.
 
Cohen & Steers’ publicly reported proxy voting record reveals consistent votes against all climate related and social resolutions, even when there is a strong business and economic case for support.  These include requests for enhanced disclosure or adoption of greenhouse gas reduction goals.  
 
In contrast funds managed by investment firms such as Alliance Bernstein, Morgan Stanley, Neuberger Berman and Wells Fargo supported the majority of these resolutions. Goldman Sachs, State Street Global Advisors, and TIAA also voted for a significant percentage of climate resolutions.
 
More recently Vanguard, Fidelity, and BlackRock revised their proxy voting in 2017 and voted for climate resolutions at Exxon Mobil and Occidental Petroleum.  Cohen & Steers is among a diminishing number of investment funds that vote against all social and environmental proposals.
 
Moreover, proxy voting practices that ignore climate change fail to recognize significant company-specific and economy-wide risks associated with negative impacts of climate change. Conversely, companies that effectively address climate change that impacts their business are acting to protect long-term shareholder value.
 
Cohen & Steers is also a signatory to the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).  One of the PRI Principles is to seek to “be active owners and incorporate ESG issues in ownership policies and practices.”  We believe a routine voting pattern opposing any social or environmental resolution contradicts this principle.
 
Thus we believe it is Cohen & Steers’ fiduciary duty to review how climate change impacts our economy and portfolio companies and evaluate how shareholder resolutions on climate may impact shareholder value and vote accordingly.
 
 
Resolved:  Shareowners request that the Board of Directors initiate a review and issue a report on our proxy voting policies and practices related to climate change, prepared at reasonable cost and omitting proprietary information.