BlackRock's 2025 global voting spotlight, which captures its proxy voting-focused stewardship activities for the 12 months ended June 30, reveals a plethora of noteworthy statistics, case studies, and instructive commentary that should help inform companies' engagement and disclosure going forward.
Key takeaways include:
Of 764 total shareholder proposals voted, 67% (513 proposals) were at US companies. Nearly half of US shareholder proposals were characterized as “Governance”; 35% as Social (company impacts on people); and 17% as Environmental (climate and natural capital).
Consistent with overall market trends, BlackRock’s support for a reduced number of environmental and social proposals reflected its view about the quality of such proposals and their connection to long-term shareholder value:
The number of proposals focused on climate and natural capital (environmental) and company impacts on people (social) appearing on company ballots decreased this proxy year, with BIS voting on ~36% fewer of such proposals in the U.S. compared to last year.2 We again found that many of these proposals were over-reaching, lacked economic merit, or sought outcomes that were unlikely to promote long-term financial value. The majority also addressed business risks that companies already had processes in place to address, making them redundant. As a reult, investor support for these proposals — inclusing BlackRock's — continued to be low.
BlackRock supported just five of 229 social shareholder proposals and two of 129 environmental shareholder proposals globally during the 2025 proxy season. The following depicts its bases for opposition compared to the prior two seasons:
In contrast to environmental and social proposals, and also consistent with market trends, BlackRock supported 18% of Governance-related shareholder proposals globally (74 of 406 total) vs. a market median of ~35%.
See Jasper Street’s Monthly Newsletter (pages 2-3); “BlackRock’s support for environmental, social proposals dips to less than 2% in 2025” (ESG Dive); our recent report: “No Support from Vanguard for US E&S Proposals in 2025”; BlackRock’s 2025 Climate and Decarbonization Stewardship Summary; and additional resources on our Institutional Investors page » BlackRock.