In preparation for its March 17 Investment Committee meeting, CalPERS released its "Proxy Voting and Corporate Engagements Update," outlining recent activity and priorities of its Global Public Equity Corporate Governance Program. The update highlights CalPERS’ stewardship efforts during the 2025 proxy season, including extensive voting activity and engagement with portfolio companies on issues such as climate risk oversight, board composition, executive compensation, and human capital management.
Among the notable voting statistics for the 2025 proxy season:
- CalPERS voted against 412 directors due to concerns related to climate oversight
- It opposed 42% of management say-on-pay proposals
- It voted against 1,388 directors for board composition concerns
In contrast, CalPERS supported a significant percentage of shareholder proposals addressing environmental, social, governance, and compensation matters, including the following:
|
Category
|
Proposal Type
|
CalPERS Support
|
|
Environmental
|
Environmental Report
|
88%
|
|
|
Report on Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions
|
86%
|
|
Social
|
Review Political Spending and Lobbying
|
92%
|
|
|
Compliance with Human Rights Standards
|
67%
|
|
Governance
|
Ability to Call Special Meetings
|
90%
|
|
|
Eliminate Supermajority Vote Requirements
|
100%
|
|
|
Separate Chairman & CEO
|
96%
|
|
|
Regarding Majority Vote for Director Elections
|
100%
|
|
Compensation
|
Regarding Golden Parachutes
|
70%
|
|
|
Regarding Retention of Shares
|
100%
|
The update also notes that CalPERS voted at more than 10,000 meetings and on over 95,000 proposals globally, while conducting hundreds of corporate engagements with portfolio companies.
Looking ahead, CalPERS identifies several priority engagement issues for 2026:
The report also provides a five-year overview of CalPERS’ proxy voting record (2021–2025) for both US and global companies.
See CalPERS’ cover memo and additional resources on our Institutional Investors page.
This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!