Make reducing air pollution a high government priority
Energy and environment
Owners remove an obstacle nothing else removes. Others must also act.
Why shareholder democracy is necessary
Most air pollution comes from plants, fleets and facilities that companies own, so corporate conduct can cut it directly without waiting for a new government priority. Public standards are still needed to bind every emitter, and InfluenceMap documents corporate advocacy as a decisive force in U.S. energy policy. Shareholder engagement has already retired major pollution sources: As You Sow's resolutions at Arizona utility APS preceded its commitment to exit coal by 2031 and reach 100 percent clean power by 2050. One documented driver of dirtier air answers to no boardroom: Stanford researchers found wildfire smoke is unraveling decades of U.S. air quality gains, with smoke-driven pollution rising across most states no matter what regulated industries do.
How this was scoredNecessary
Necessary. Owners remove an obstacle nothing else removes. Others must also act.
We have not yet written down the two answers behind this rating. Recording them on every item, so a reader can check the reasoning and not only the conclusion, is work in progress.
Every rating is the higher of two answers, one for what companies do and one for what they spend to stop the outcome, because the same vote reaches both. See the full method.
Sources
- Common Ground of the American People: Energy & the Environment, Program for Public Consultation / Voice of the People, survey July 2024
- APS Changes Course for 100% Clean Energy Future, As You Sow, 2020-01-22
- US Corporate Climate Advocacy Going Into 2025, InfluenceMap, 2024-12
- Wildfire smoke is unraveling decades of air quality gains (study in Environmental Science & Technology), Stanford Report, 2022-09-22
What civil society organizations are helping owners on this
Filed shareholder resolutions at Arizona utility APS in 2017 and 2019 seeking less reliance on fossil fuel generation, withdrawn after agreements, ahead of the company's 2020 commitment to exit coal by 2031 and reach 100 percent clean power by 2050.
APS Changes Course for 100% Clean Energy Future, As You Sow, 2020-01
Published a 2026 director voting guide recommending votes against responsible directors at utilities expanding fossil generation for data centers while delaying coal retirements past 2035.
2 campaigns on record
Vote against board chairs or directors responsible for climate risk and capital spending at utilities that are expanding fossil fuel generation for data center demand while delaying coal retirements past 2035.
With Sierra Club
Result: not stated in source
Key Votes and Major Trends for the 2026 Shareholder Meeting Season, Sierra Club, 2026-04
Reduce the company's reliance on fossil fuel generation and address greenhouse gas emissions.
Result: Withdrawn after agreements with the company in both 2017 and 2019
In January 2020 APS committed to 45 percent renewable energy by 2030, a 65 percent clean mix by 2030 and 100 percent clean, carbon-free electricity by 2050.
APS Changes Course for 100% Clean Energy Future, As You Sow, 2020-01
Related subjects on other maps
How this rating was made
Every item on every one of our maps is read against one question: how far does this depend on the people who own companies voting their values? We answer it twice, once for what companies do and once for what they spend to stop the outcome, and take whichever answer is higher, since the same vote reaches both. The score carries its reasoning and its sources so that a reader can check it rather than take it.
- Pivotal. Owners voting their values can deliver most of the outcome.
- Necessary. Owners remove an obstacle nothing else removes, and others must also act.
- Helpful. Owners voting their values help, and others carry most of it.
- Independent. This moves without owners. Other levers carry it.
The advocacy record on this page holds only what a source we opened says happened. Where we searched and found nothing, the page says so rather than leaving a silence. Where a campaign names a filer the source does not name, it says that too. Ratings are ours; the list of subjects is Common Ground of the American People's, and we link to their original.
How we score dependency, in full.