# Shareholder Proposals

## TL;DR

Shareholder activism allows everyday people to influence large companies into making changes. How exactly can we have an impact? Individuals or in some cases, advocacy groups, can submit shareholder proposals. 

<mark style="background-color:blue;">A shareholder proposal is a</mark> <mark style="background-color:blue;"></mark>*<mark style="background-color:blue;">recommendation</mark>* <mark style="background-color:blue;"></mark><mark style="background-color:blue;">to a company for a specific course of action.  Recommendations are submitted and put to a vote at companies' annual meetings.</mark>&#x20;

While shareholder proposals can focus on any number of issues that one would want to propose a change, <mark style="background-color:blue;">the lack of climate action at many companies, is a major concern that prompts an immediate need for shareholder proposals that call for companies to start making strides towards reducing their carbon footprints.</mark>&#x20;

![You may recognize this as a shareholder meeting, but most of them don't look like this (anymore). ](https://965826231-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FShDswzEBKYVgYGPLq5R6%2Fuploads%2FuuIRzrow91JmNzMFsSNu%2Fimage.png?alt=media\&token=6eb870e6-c110-491d-a384-5e46bc333ba5)