Investors Drive FTSE 100 to Put Climate Plans to Vote

September 5, 2025

By Daniel Kehoe

Institutional investors are, for a fifth year in a row, ramping up pressure on FTSE 100 companies to allow their shareholders to have a say on the company’s climate transition strategies at their Annual General Meetings (known as a ‘say on climate’).

The Transition Plan Vote initiative, led by CCLA Investment Management and the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF), are calling on institutional investors to sign up to a letter to ask the UK’s largest firms to put their climate transition plans to a shareholder vote, by their 2026 AGM at the latest.

Minerva notes that investors have until September 17, 2025 to support this initiative, and this is not the first attempt to increase shareholder oversight on companies’ climate strategies. For example, in 2024, investors with a combined £1.6 trillion (U$2.2 billion) in assets under management urged companies to include climate plan transition votes at their 2025 AGMs.

The 2024 effort was co-signed by more than 40 pension funds and asset managers, including the LAPFF, CCLA Investment Management, Clear Skies Investment Management, Groupama Asset Management and Nordea Asset Management, among others. These investors wrote to over two-thirds of FTSE 100 companies that had not included a climate transition plan vote in their AGM agendas in the past three years.

According to Minerva’s data, 26 UK-listed companies have held a say on climate, with the first held in 2020. Companies have taken different approaches to votes, with different resolution focuses (climate transition action plans, commitment to net zero, climate-related financial disclosures and climate progress reports), and different voting timeframes (annual, triennial or no commitment to future votes). Average shareholder support has trended downwards since the first vote was held as ‘first mover advantage’ was lost as voting guidelines and frameworks developed and investors became more familiar with the votes.

Figure 1: Say on Climate Votes in the UK

Source: Minerva Analytics Ltd

The number of say on climate votes have declined in recent years, with just six companies holding a vote in 2025 so far, partly due to companies opting to hold a vote every three years rather than annually, as well as the loss of momentum for the say on climate initiative which the Transition Plan Vote initiative is seeking to reignite. Companies may have also been hesitant to put forward a say on climate vote given the increase in shareholder dissent and associated reputational risks.

A notable recent example is that of BP, which did not include a say on climate vote on its 2025 AGM agenda. BP held a say on climate vote at its 2022 AGM and at the time stated it intended to offer a further shareholder vote in 2025, if the board considered it in the company’s interests to do so. In early 2025 the oil and gas major announced a strategic reset with a scaling back of certain climate commitments and increased investment into oil and gas. In response to this, investors called on the company to hold a say on climate vote and followed this up with a ‘vote no’ campaign on BP’s Chair Helge Lund after BP did not include the vote on the agenda. Whilst BP announced Mr. Lund would retire, his re-election still received around 25% dissent indicating shareholder concern over the strategic shift and lack of accountability.

In addition to the investor campaign, the UK government launched a consultation on June 25, 2025 to explore whether FTSE 100 companies, as well as UK-regulated financial institutions, should be required to develop and implement credible transition plans which are aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement, or whether a ‘comply or explain’ framework would be sufficient. Responses to this are also due by September 7, 2025, the same day as the investor letter campaign responses are due.

The introduction of formal regulation in this area would signify a shift from voluntary adoption to mandated accountability in the development of credible Paris-aligned transition plans. The investor campaign looks to push for the adoption of a shareholder vote on these transition plans. By having such a vote, shareholders can indicate their confidence in the transition plan through a dedicated resolution rather than it being directed to one of a variety of other resolutions on the ballot.

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