A bid by some pension funds and asset managers to have Toyota disclose its climate-related lobbying activity failed to win shareholder support at the carmaker's annual meeting Wednesday.
The shareholder resolution was filed by AkademikerPension, Gentofte, Denmark, with €18 billion ($19.3 billion) in assets; APG Asset Management, with €521 billion in assets under management; and Norwegian financial firm Storebrand Group.
It was supported by the $456.6 billion California Public Employees' Retirement System, Sacramento; New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, trustee of the $242.3 billion New York City Retirement Systems; and the Church of England Pension Board, London.
The resolution was filed after what Anders Schelde, CIO at AkademikerPension, said were years of "fruitless dialogue" to get the company to report on lobbying activity related to climate goals, and to stop lobbying against climate-related regulation and policies in the U.S., U.K. and Japan. Toyota did agree to produce annual reports, but the shareholders pushed for reports based on independent data.
Toyota's board of directors recommended voting against the resolution, saying in a proxy filing that it "considers climate change measures to be one of its important management tasks and is fully concentrated on seeking to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050."
The company also rebuffed an effort to replace Chairman Akio Toyoda over governance concerns. The vote breakdown is expected Thursday.
