Becoming a shareholder in the company one is seeking to influence allows individuals and groups to speak in front of the board of directors and the company in general. The ability to attend the annual general meetings and ask the appropriate questions is a way of informing other shareholders of the practices of the company. A copy of the shareholders' register is available (usually at a fee) and you may even be able to encourage other shareholders to join your cause. Greenpeace Australia has more information about tools that shareholders can use to get their message across.

Shareholder Campaigns

Shareholder campaigns can be issue-oriented, or community-oriented. Although each type of shareholder campaign is informed by different concerns, processes and strategies, successful campaigns have certain elements in common, such as those noted below by Friends of the Earth:

• Alliances with social movements or public interest groups, where shareholder concerns and activity mesh with and play a part in a larger, multi-faceted campaign
• Grassroots pressure, such as writing letters or making phone calls to public investors to generate support for the resolution
• Communications, such as media outreach, public and shareholder education
• High-level negotiations with senior decision makers
• Support and active involvement from large institutional investors
• A climate that makes it difficult for the company not to make the decision you want it to make. For example, if you have compelling financial argument, you have a better chance of getting company management and other shareholders on board with your proposal.
• Persistence. Shareholders don't go away. They own the company and have a right to be heard. Often shareholder activists stick with issues for years.

Shareholder Resolutions

Shareholder resolutions involve calling on corporations to examine and change their practices. In a few cases, companies accept suggestions and change their policies. In most cases, resolutions are printed in proxy statements and sent to millions of shareholders, then presented and voted on at annual general meetings. Shareholder resolutions are a valuable tool for education and social change.

Shareholder activism can change society. It began in the US in the 1970s when religious investors formed a coalition called the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility to work for peace and social justice. And after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, an investor-environmental alliance called the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES) was formed. Both groups continue to work with business to promote corporate agendas that are ecologically sound and socially just.

Source: City of Edmonton fact sheet, 2003

One example of a shareholder resolution was the 1999 Home Depot Resolution to Stop Sale of Old Growth Wood Products. The Home Depot old-growth wood campaign gained significant votes at the company's 1999 shareholder meeting and affected the perceptions of the shareholders. A few months after the annual meeting, Home Depot announced that it would phase out the sale of wood from environmentally sensitive origins, such as primary tropical forest and old-growth stands. For its reach and exposure the shareholder activism component of this campaign took relatively little coordination time. This campaign possessed the following characteristics:

• Concerned shareholders built on existing strong coalitions and existing campaigns with forest groups and communities.
• The overall effort incorporated a strong media outreach plan, which successfully framed the argument and placed articles.
• The public interest community built a business climate and an argument where a phase out of old growth wood products was perceived as a reasonable request.
• The overall campaign had more than one organizing center.

Home Depot announced a phase out of wood products from environmentally sensitive areas shortly after its 1999 shareholder meeting. The company used its 10th anniversary as an opportunity to make this announcement. Although shareholder pressure was not cited as one of the reasons why the company decided to make the pledge, shareholders believe that their concern raised awareness and pressure, and contributed to the change in Home Depot's mindset.

Responsible Wealth: A Project of United for a Fair Economy provides more examples of shareholder campaigns.

Holding management accountable for corporate climate change policy and action

All companies with shares available on the stock market have to produce and publish their annual reports and these reports often include a section about their environmental performance. You can get a copy by calling their head offices or visiting their websites. By carefully reading the annual reports you will find out what a company has done in the last year, any profits it made, and whether it has lived up to its corporate climate change policy and action. Lobbying a company by writing letters, sending emails or phoning the senior management team puts pressure on the company to conform to its stated environmental policy.