MRTI publishes 2026 Shareholder Resolution Directory with proxy vote recommendations

As the 2026 proxy voting season begins, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Committee on Mission Responsibility through Investment (MRTI) is urging companies to adopt just policies with regard to climate change, AI usage, immigration and other social and environmental concerns. MRTI's 2026 Shareholders Resolution Directory was published in March and includes a long list of resolutions for which MRTI recommends proxy voter support. The guide is available here.

This year, MRTI reviewed 412 resolutions filed by values and faith-based investors at 331 companies, a substantial increase from the 219 resolutions submitted to 165 companies in 2025. The expansive number of 2026 resolutions includes 24 new resolution topics. 

Each new topic was considered individually, with the committee reviewing and offering its recommendations for voters. Resolutions with proxy-voting recommendations established in past years are generally acted upon as a block reaffirmation, though any committee member can request reconsideration of a particular resolution.

These recommendations are intended to guide how Presbyterian-affiliated investors vote their shares — a process that allows shareholders to pressure companies to change their policies and practices.

The PC(USA) is a primary filer — along with As You Sow — on one new 2026 resolution submitted to Meta, with a similar resolution filed at Alphabet, Inc. According to MRTI, the new resolution calls upon each company named to “issue a report explaining how it will meet the climate change related commitments it has made on greenhouse gas emissions, given the massively growing energy demand from artificial intelligence and data centers that the company is planning to build.” 

Katie Carter, Director of Faith-Based Investing and Shareholder Engagement for Presbyterian Life & Witness, recently offered insight and rationale for this resolution on a webinar hosted by the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR). Carter noted that “Meta’s direct emissions from its data center energy use have risen 223% since 2019 and Alphabet’s total emissions have increased by 51% since 2019.”

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Both companies have made public commitments toward renewable capacity and clean energy, but their data center energy consumption has outpaced their efforts so far. MRTI’s decision to file the resolution at Meta is in line with its foundational policy from the 183^rd General Assembly (1971) which prioritized the achievement of environmental responsibility, including “investment opportunities in enterprises making an effective effort to develop products that reduce environmental effects of their production methods or products.” Additionally, a 2008 General Assembly policy called "The Power to Change" states “The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) supports comprehensive, mandatory, and aggressive emission reductions that aim to limit the increase in Earth’s temperature to 2 degrees Celsius or less from pre-industrial levels.”

Carter said the resolution at Meta is going to shareholder vote later this spring. 

MRTI also filed resolutions that are going to a vote at GE Aerospace and Palantir, stemming from the directive from the 226th General Assembly to engage those companies regarding human rights concerns in conflict-affected and high-risk areas. MRTI has also filed a Proxy Exempt Solicitation with the Securities and Exchange Commission, explaining why voters should support the proposal at GE Aerospace.

Other new resolutions for 2026 supported by MRTI also address environmental and human rights concerns. These include a call for McDonald’s to report on its regenerative agriculture programs and a request for Sprouts, Costco and Walmart to assess their own due diligence policies regarding illegal deforestation in avocado supply chains. MRTI also supports resolutions around climate-related litigation risks associated with Wells Fargo’s financing of high-carbon activities, disclosures from Abbott and Merck regarding horseshoe crab-derived endotoxin testing, and calls for Tyson and Hormel to report on the success of their efforts to mitigate the human and environmental health concerns associated with waste lagoons.

MRTI also recommends shareholder support of new resolutions focused on human rights with regard to the impact of U.S. immigration policy on company operations for Walmart, Alphabet, and Amazon; AI human rights risks at Salesforce; and Meta’s responsibility to address antisemitism on its online platforms. 

Notably, several of this year’s new resolutions also address issues of shareholder rights. Carter said they’ve also been seeing “unprecedented threats to the shareholder process.” ICCR’s proxy book — on which MRTI’s is based — includes a timeline of challenges to shareholder rights. 

While all the resolutions in the full guide are supported by MRTI and by policies of the General Assembly of the PC(USA), the guide does note that “many of these resolutions will not appear on the proxy statement when it is mailed to shareholders” due to negotiations between shareholders and corporations or corporations challenging resolutions before the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The guide also notes that this year, the SEC announced that “it would not adjudicate company challenges to shareholder resolutions due to limited capacity resulting from the U.S. government shutdown at the beginning of the year.” Given this, any resolution challenged by a company will be omitted from the company’s proxy statement. 

Despite such challenges to the process, MRTI continues to encourage shareholders to advocate for corporate practices and policies that align with the PC(USA)’s commitment to cultivating a world that reflects God’s love and justice for all people and the world.