Our engagement work

Mental health benchmark

Sustainable Development Goal 3: Good Health and Wellbeing

In Q2, we launched the 2024 Corporate Mental Health Benchmark - UK 100. Now three years old, the benchmark ranks 101 UK-listed companies on their approach to workplace mental health into one of five performance tiers.

Since the publication of last year’s benchmark, we have been hard at work meeting these companies and explaining the social and economic value to be unlocked through concerted efforts to support their employees. Over the past 12 months, 70 UK-listed companies have engaged with us on this topic.

The 2024 results reveal that 24 of the UK’s largest listed businesses have improved their performance tier since 2023. Since the first benchmark in 2022, a total of 45 UK companies have improved their tier, with wide ranging and profound implications for the health of employees worldwide. One of the highest ‘improvers’ is Experian, which has moved from Tier 3 to Tier 1 since 2022, making it one of the top six performers in the UK.

Amazon

Sustainable Development Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth

In 2022, Amazon workers in Staten Island formed the first Amazon Union which has faced opposition and anti-union interference from the company. In 2023 and 2024 we co-filed a resolution at Amazon, urging an independent assessment of its commitment to workers’ rights as per its Global Human Rights Principles. The 2024 proposal achieved 32% of the shareholder vote. The rights to Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining are International Labour Organisation (ILO) Core Conventions and a key part of the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. This means that they are internationally recognised as Human Rights norms that should be upheld, regardless of local legislation. The resolution may not have passed, but we will continue to seek to engage Amazon on the issue and have subsequently led a group of 50 investors, with $1.2 trillion in assets under management, in writing to the company to reiterate our concerns.

Nestlé

Sustainable Investment Goal 13: Climate Action

We are co-lead investor for Nestlé on behalf of the collaborative initiative, Climate Action 100+. In Q1, the company published its new sustainability report. There are three improvements that align clearly with the coalition’s asks. Nestlé now benchmarks its emissions trajectory against a 2018 baseline; discloses the relative contribution of each decarbonisation lever to its annual total emissions reductions; and has introduced a 2023 Performance Share Unit Plan with greenhouse gas emissions reductions as a fourth pillar.

NextEra

Sustainable Development Goal 13: Climate Action

Based in the US, NextEra is one of the world’s largest generators of renewable energy. Despite its leadership in the generation of clean energy, the company has historically lagged peers in climate-related disclosure. In the run up to the 2024 AGM, we led the filing of a climate-related shareholder proposal at NextEra. NextEra has a target to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2045 although some of the trade associations to which it belongs can present forceful obstacles to addressing climate change. Our proposal asked the Board to report to shareholders on its approach to identifying and addressing misalignments between NextEra's lobbying and policy influence activities, and its 'Real Zero' goal. The proposal received an encouraging 33% support at the AGM in May

Nestlé

Sustainable Development Goal 3: Good Health and Wellbeing

On the back of prolonged engagement over the past two years together with ShareAction’s Healthy Markets Coalition and the Access to Nutrition Foundation, Nestlé agreed a set of new nutritional commitments:

• benchmark and disclose the nutritional information of its products in 14 countries

• raise the target age of marketing of unhealthy foods

• cease marketing on gaming platforms where the user base is significantly comprised of under 16s.

• cease the marketing of infant formula milk from 1st January 2023.

After an initial reluctance to set healthy foods sales targets, we escalated the engagement and considered co-filing a shareholder resolution. Nestlé eventually agreed to set targets on absolute sales of healthy products. 

Addressing Modern Slavery in UK Companies

Sustainable Development Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth

Estimates suggest that 50 million people or one in 150 people around the world are trapped in a state of modern slavery1, and due to the impacts of Covid, war, climate breakdown, the roll back on women’s rights and the rise of authoritarian regimes there are more people trapped than ever before. This is an issue that affects international business. It is estimated that the G20 imports products tainted with modern slavery worth $468 billion per year2.  The UK alone is estimated to import $26.1bn of products at risk of being made with forced labour. There is huge potential for action by businesses to reduce modern slavery around the world. While some businesses are more exposed to modern slavery risks than others, and it is therefore a more material concern, all businesses have some exposure to modern slavery.

To encourage businesses to play a full role in the fight against Modern Slavery, CCLA have launched a Modern Slavery Benchmark. This ranks the largest UK listed companies on their approach to contributing to the fight against modern slavery allowing us to engage with those businesses that have the biggest potential to improve.

1 Global Slavery Index 2022 Global Slavery Index | Walk Free.
2 ibid.