Further to its 2017 - 18 engagement priorities (which we reported on here), BlackRock reportedly supported eight of nine voted shareholder proposals in the US and Canada last quarter calling on companies to adopt board diversity policies or commit to disclose their plans to increase their board diversity, and also voted against Nominating Committee members at five of those companies for their alleged failure to address board diversity concerns expressed by investors.
By way of example, the report describes two situations wherein BlackRock supported these proposals - one where the company cited a lack of availability of diverse candidates (reportedly demonstrating its "limited willingness to explore alternatives to the current status quo"), and the other where the company was making efforts to bolster its board diversity, but wouldn't commit to a timeline.
BlackRock further explains its voting approach and objectives on this issue:
It is important to point out that we are not trying to micromanage the nominating process or to tell companies what to do—we are attempting to build mutual understanding on these issues. Ultimately, we seek to grasp the company’s philosophy, policies, and performance on gender diversity at the board level.
On climate risk disclosure/reporting, BlackRock engaged with 27 companies in the US and Canada in Q2, 21 of which were subject to related shareholder proposals, and 25 of which it determined demonstrated a sufficient willingness to improve their disclosure in a manner it deemed potentially superior to that called for by the shareholder proposals. Again, purportedly consistent with one of its 2017 - 18 engagement priorities, the investor voted against management recommendations at the other two companies - Exxon Mobil and Occidental Petroleum, which we previously reported on here and here. The report also reiterates BlackRock's support for the Financial Stability Board's Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, which we most recently reported on here.
Also noteworthy is the report's discussion about BlackRock's engagement with several tech and media companies regarding their multi-class share structures, and its related support for shareholder proposals to recapitalize stock into a single voting class in those cases where the companies refused to end or phase out those structures in accordance with the Investor Stewardship Group's recently-launched Corporate Governance Principles (Principle 2), of which BlackRock was a founding signatory (reported on here). The report references a CII study (which is posted on our Capital Allocation/Capital Structure topical page), indicating that 7.5% of US public companies have a multi-class share structure.
On an overall basis in the US only, BlackRock voted on 25,824 proposals at 2,876 meetings in Q2 - voting against management recommendations on 9% of those proposals and against one or more management recommendations at 26% of those meetings.