Climate Action Resolution Backed by 96% of Caterpillar Shareholders

At US-based Caterpillar’s AGM this week, a climate disclosure resolution was backed by 96% of shareholders. The resolution asks the construction machinery and equipment company to release a report disclosing mid- and long-term greenhouse gas reduction targets aligned with the Paris Agreement’s goal of maintaining global temperature rise at 1.5°C, and periodically updating the progress made in achieving these goals. The resolution, put forward by environmental and social NGO As You Sow (AYS), also says the targets should cover Scope 3 emissions from customer use of products that combust fuels for operation, accounting for a large proportion of value-chain emissions. Caterpillar has so far neither set 1.5°C science-aligned targets nor targets covering its emissions from customers’ use of its products. Climate Action 100+, a coalition of 700 investors with $68 trillion in assets, has listed Caterpillar as one of the largest carbon emitters globally. AYS’s Energy Program Manager, Daniel Stewart, said: “Investors are starting to lose confidence in management’s ability to control climate risk as the company continues to ignore shareholders’ expectation that the company will quickly set science-aligned targets to avoid the worst effects of climate change and develop a transition strategy”. 

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