In addition to key statistics on say-on-pay and director elections, Georgeson’s annual report: “An Early Look at the 2026 Proxy Season” summarizes submission, withdrawal, and voting trends at Russell 3000 companies for key environmental, social, and governance shareholder proposals for the 2026 proxy season to date (July 1, 2025, through May 15, 2026).
Among the numerous key takeaways:
- Support for executive compensation and directors largely unchanged—As of May 15, average support for say-on-pay proposals in the 2026 proxy season stood at 92%, compared to ~91% for the full 2025 proxy season. Similarly, average support for director elections reached ~96%, compared to ~95% in 2025.
- Reduced number of shareholder proposals—The number of shareholder proposals declined 15% season-over-season, consisting of a 39% reduction in environmental proposals, 36% reduction in social proposals, 3% increase in governance proposals, and 5% reduction in anti-ESG proposals.
- Governance proposals are passing, but at lower rates—Of the 261 of 710 proposals voted as of May 15, only governance-related proposals have passed (19). However, the governance proposal passage rate has declined to ~12%, compared to ~19% in 2025 and ~21% in 2024.
- Fewer no-action requests—As of May 15, 219 no-action requests were submitted, compared to 342 in 2025 and 266 in 2024. Relative to overall proposal volume, the proportion of proposals subject to a no-action request has also declined compared to the prior two seasons.
- Top 10 proponents represent increasing % of total—John Chevedden continued his long-time record as the most prolific proponent, submitting 267 of the total 710 proposals (38%), with As You Sow trailing in second at 52 proposals, or 7% of the total. The top 10 proponents, including Chevedden, filed 73% of the proposals, compared to 67% in 2025.
- Proxy advisor support for proposals outpaces shareholder support— Compared to the 2025 proxy season, the percentage of ESG shareholder proposals that ISS and Glass Lewis recommended voting "for" increased by 14% and 11%, respectively, while average shareholder support increased by only 3%, widening the gap between recommendations and voting outcomes.
Access additional resources on our Proxy Season 2026 and Shareholder Proposals pages.
This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!