By Ross Kerber

BOSTON (Reuters), – Goldman Sachs (NYSE) will vote more hard on directors who fail to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions. A senior executive indicated on Thursday that this would increase pressure on leaders in business to give climate-impact information.

The annual meeting will be held at global companies this spring. Goldman’s $2.5 billion asset management unit will hold proxy votes.

According to Catherine Winner (global head of stewardship at Goldman Sachs Asset Management), the company needs this information.

She stated, “We want it so that we don’t need to rely upon third-party data which can often be wrong,”

The new policy treats climate data similarly to the criteria https://www.gsam.com/content/gsam/us/en/advisors/about-gsam/news-and-media/2021/Goldman_Sachs_stewardship.html Goldman set for boardroom diversity in December. Goldman reported last year that 7661 directors were voted against by the company, or 15%.

Winner stated that 2020 Goldman engaged with 271 companies that have not disclosed their insufficient emission disclosures since 2010. They have not made any improvement and are therefore vulnerable to directors.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has released a rule Monday calling for greater corporate emission disclosures. However, the rule is not final and will be phased in until 2026.

Winner declared, “We won’t wait for the SEC Rule to kick in,”

Goldman, like other large banks, will face a shareholder resolution on its annual meeting of April 28, seeking to end new fossil fuel finance. Goldman opposed the resolution saying that it wouldn’t reduce fossil fuel demand or emissions.

Winner indicated that she would not accept proposals giving too detailed directions to management.

“The complete stopping of financing of fossil fuels entirely, that’s something we believe is too prescriptive,” she said.