Amazon shareholder revolt loses steam

Geek Wire

23-05-2025

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Amazon's latest shareholder results, released Thursday afternoon, show a continued decline in support for some high-profile environmental and social proposals.
Measures on packaging waste and warehouse safety each received noticeably less backing than comparable resolutions did in prior years. It's a sharp change from 2022, when similar resolutions came close to passing.
The trend signals waning momentum for activism among Amazon shareholders, despite ongoing scrutiny of its environmental impact and workplace practices.
Amazon's board opposed all of the environmental and social resolutions, as it has in previous years, saying the proposals were unnecessary given the company's existing disclosures, policies, commitments, and progress on the underlying issues they raised.
The company announced during its annual meeting Wednesday that none of the shareholder resolutions had passed, but the vote totals weren't disclosed until a regulatory filing today.
Among the most striking results was a proposal calling for additional reporting on Amazon's use of plastic packaging, which drew 49% support in 2022 and 13.5% this year — a drop of more than 35 percentage points in three years.
The top shareholder resolution for 2025 was a proposal on warehouse working conditions, with 22% support. However, that compared to 44% support for a similar resolution in 2022.
A proposal on carbon emission reduction received 14% support, down from 15% in 2024.
However, a separate proposal calling for a report on the climate impact of Amazon's growing data center operations — driven in part by AI — drew more attention and votes. It questioned whether the use of renewable energy credits can keep up with rising energy demands.
The measure, backed by former Amazon employees associated with the advocacy group Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, received 19.9% support — the second-highest among this year's shareholder proposals. That was despite strong opposition from the company and an unsuccessful attempt to block it from the ballot.
In a statement after the vote, co-filer Eliza Pan, a former Amazon employee, criticized the company's disclosures, saying they fail to reflect the true environmental cost of its AI expansion.
'Amazon is hiding the massive impacts of its AI with misleading reporting,' she said. 'If the company is serious about its Climate Pledge, we need to know what's really happening.'
All board-backed proposals were approved by shareholders, including an advisory vote on executive compensation, which received 78% support — up from 68% in 2023.