Berkshire Hathaway () is facing shareholder resolutions to do more on climate change, as its annual shareholder meeting will be held next weekend.
Chief Executive Warren Buffett is adamantly opposed. Last year, Berkshire shareholders voted handily against climate change policies.
At last year's shareholders meeting, people who bought Berkshire with their own funds voted against these policies.
"I think people who never gave up a dime of their own money into Berkshire"
The activist shareholders want Berkshire to provide more information on its carbon emissions and to invest more time in combating climate change.
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Buffett isn't giving up on all of it, according to him. Berkshire subsidiaries, such as Berkshire Hathaway Energy, have already disclosed a lot of detail about their carbon output and fork over billions of dollars for renewable energy, according to Buffett. The suggestions will almost certainly fail.
Berkshire's is mainly under-lipped in general, according to some analysts. "This is a continuation of a corporate model and a corporate structure that is becoming antiquated," according to Cathy Seifert, an analyst at CFRA Research. "And I think we will see just how antiquated with the shareholder vote."
Calpers, the nation's largest public pension fund, said in a statement that it is supporting a Warren Buffett as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. He would remain CEO.
Consideratives of corporate governance have long called for companies not to have their chief executives chair the board. The aim is to keep the board independent from the management.
The Berkshire board said last month that Buffett should remain chairman as long as he is chief executive. According to the board, once Buffett is no longer chief executive, a non-management director should be named board chairman.
