FEDEX CORPORATION | Report on Assessing Systemic Climate Risk from Retirement Plan Options at FEDEX CORPORATION

Status
7.92% votes in favour
AGM date
Previous AGM date
Proposal number
8
Resolution details
Company ticker
FDX
Lead filer
As You Sow
Resolution ask
Report on or disclose
ESG theme
  • Environment
ESG sub-theme
  • Climate change
Type of vote
Shareholder proposal
Filer type
Shareholder
Company sector
Industrials
Company HQ country
United States
Resolved clause
RESOLVED: Shareholders request the Company publish a report, at reasonable expense and omitting confidential
information, disclosing how the Company is protecting Plan beneficiaries with a longer investment time horizon from climate
risk associated with its retirement plan options.
Whereas clause
“WHEREAS: Climate change poses a growing, systemic risk to the economy. If global climate goals are not met, workers face the
likelihood of significant negative impacts to their retirement portfolios. Swiss Re estimates a 4% decline in global GDP by 2050 if
global temperature increases are kept below 2 degrees Celsius, but up to an 18% decline without effective mitigation.1
FedEx has taken actions to address climate change by committing to delivering a more sustainable future, including a goal
of carbon-neutral operations by 2040.2 Yet, while it transitions its business away from fossil fuels, our Company’s 401(k)
retirement plan (“Plan”) invests significantly in companies that contribute to climate change, jeopardizing workers’ life savings.
FedEx offers plan participants Vanguard Target Retirement funds, which hold the largest segment of Plan assets.3 These
target retirement funds invest significantly in fossil fuel companies and companies contributing to deforestation.4 By investing
employees’ retirement savings in companies with outsized contributions to climate change, FedEx is generating climate risk in
workers’ portfolios, including transition risk and long-term systemic risk.
Retirement plan fiduciaries must act in the best interest of their beneficiaries by considering all material risk, including climate
risk. The federal government recently clarified that fiduciaries may appropriately consider climate risk in the selection of plan
offerings.5 FedEx’s current 401(k) options risk compromising its obligation to select retirement plan investment options in the
best interests of its plan participants, including those with retirement dates more than a decade out.
In the increasingly competitive employee recruitment and retention landscape, failing to minimize material climate risk in its
401(k) plan options may make it more difficult for FedEx to attract and retain top talent. Employee polling indicates that firms’
environmental records are an important consideration in choosing a job.6 Employee polling also reveals increasing demand for
climate-safe retirement plan options.7
Given the threat that climate change poses to employees’ life savings, our Company can help ensure employee loyalty and
satisfaction, and demonstrate that it is actively safeguarding all employees’ retirement savings, no matter when they are set
to retire, by minimizing climate risk in its Plan offerings.
Supporting statement
SUPPORTING STATEMENT: The report should include, at Board discretion, an analysis of:
• The degree to which carbon-intensive investments in the Company’s current retirement options contribute to greater
beneficiary risk and reduced Plan performance over time; and
• Whether carbon-intensive investments in Plan investment options put younger beneficiaries’ savings at greater risk than
participants closer to retirement.”

How other organisations have declared their voting intentions

Organisation name Declared voting intentions Rationale
Anima Sgr For While the company offers an option to employees that want to invest more responsibly, it is unclear how well employees understand the retirement plans available to them.
The information requested in the report would not only complement and enhance the company's existing commitments regarding climate change, but also allow shareholders to better evaluate the company's strategies and management of related risks.

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