The Fairfax AGM was last week where our proposal asking the company to disclose its financed emissions was voted on. The company has now released the voting results, unfortunately not breaking out the numbers by shares controlled by the CEO vs. those voted by other shareholders, but we can calculate those numbers based on turnout.
The result: a significant 38% of regular shareholders voted in favour of the proposal, or about 18% total when factoring in the CEO’s vote against.
Why it matters
That’s a strong signal, especially for a first-time filing. Nearly two out of every five independent shareholders want Fairfax to begin taking the most basic step in climate risk management: measuring and disclosing the emissions it enables through its underwriting and investing activities.
The company’s silence on this front is increasingly out of step. It is an outlier in the industry, and many of its shareholders think so too.
Real world impact of climate impact
Fairfax is already feeling the financial consequences of climate change, reporting US$1.1 billion in catastrophe losses in 2024 and projecting up to US$750 million in net losses from the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires. These aren’t isolated incidents. They’re the new reality for a property and casualty insurer operating in a world of intensifying extreme weather.
Yet Fairfax still doesn’t disclose its financed emissions, has no net-zero target, and shows no signs of aligning its business with the global energy transition. This places it far behind its global and domestic peers, many of whom disclosed financed emissions and committed to climate targets. Fairfax, meanwhile, is the fifth-largest fossil fuel insurer globally, with more than $1.5 billion invested in fossil fuels.
Our resolution was about taking the first step toward modern climate risk management, starting with transparency, which is the bare minimum for shareholders to understand what risks they’re potentially taking on. And shareholders responded. This level of support, from a broad base of independent investors, is not something Fairfax can ignore.
We look forward to discussing next steps with management.
