08 May 2025 UPS Could Be Liable for Greenwashing, Shareholders Warn

Washington, D.C. — At today’s annual United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS) shareholder meeting, a representative of the National Center for Public Policy Research’s Free Enterprise Project (FEP) will present a proposal addressing the risks UPS faces if the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) finds it liable for deceptive environmental reporting, or “greenwashing.”

In its supporting statement for Proposal 5, “Shareowner Proposal Requesting a Report on the Risks Arising From Voluntary Carbon-Reduction Commitments,” FEP explained why its proposal is important to mitigate the company’s risk:

Shareholders must protect our assets against potentially unfulfillable Company Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) promises, including the extent to which the Company can reduce Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has taken enforcement actions related to ESG issues or statements by companies who misrepresent or engage in fraud related to ESG efforts….

Voluntary commitments to reduce carbon emissions create unnecessary risk for the Company because of the lack of scientific consensus over the ability to achieve net zero emissions….

UPS voluntarily reports on Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions and makes voluntary commitments to reduce them. UPS does so even though it has failed to report on its evaluation of the technological or financial feasibility of such commitments. Given the SEC’s climate and ESG enforcement actions, the Company must exercise caution and provide transparency about such commitments.

At today’s meeting, FEP Executive Director Stefan Padfield will take issue with UPS’s opposition to the National Center’s proposal. He will tell shareholders:

In its opposition statement, UPS argues that it already reports on the risks associated with its commitments, making the analysis and report requested by the proposal unnecessary. However, if that is the case, why not simply exclude the proposal on the ground that it has already been substantially implemented, which is the company’s right?

Furthermore, if the requested information is already available, why not provide shareholders with direct citations that specifically address the proposal’s concerns?… If UPS has indeed already provided all the information requested by this proposal, then implementing the proposal will be essentially costless. On the other hand, if UPS has not provided the requested information, shareholders deserve to get it.

In addition to requesting that shareholders vote YES on Proposal 5, FEP has published an entire voting scorecard for UPS shareholders as part of its Proxy Navigator voting guide, including these recommendations:

Proposal 1: Board of directors: VOTE AGAINST THE ENTIRE BOARD.
Proposal 2: Executive compensation: ABSTAIN.
Proposal 3: Ratification of auditors: ABSTAIN.
Proposal 4: Shareholder proposal to take steps to reduce the voting power of UPS class A stock from 10 votes per share to one vote per share: ABSTAIN.
Proposal 5: Shareholder proposal to prepare a report on the risks arising from voluntary carbon-reduction commitments: FOR. This is the National Center’s proposal.

About

The National Center for Public Policy Research, founded in 1982, is a non-partisan, free-market, independent conservative think-tank. Ninety-four percent of its support comes from individuals, less than four percent from foundations and less than two percent from corporations. It receives over 350,000 individual contributions a year from over 60,000 active recent contributors.

FEP, the original and premier opponent of the woke takeover of American corporate life, aims to push corporations to respect their fiduciary obligations and to stay out of political and social engineering. More information about this proposal can be found in FEP’s mobile and web app, ProxyNavigator.

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