It comes against the backdrop of intense national debate about the future of Australia's energy mix, following the dire predictions contained in this week's UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Coalition's decision to drop its National Energy Guarantee and as campaigning ramps up for the Wentworth by-election this weekend, in which climate change has been flagged as a significant issue for voters.

The Westpac resolution is the first of its kind to target a company outside the mining or energy sectors, and focuses mainly on the company's membership of the Business Council of Australia, arguably Australia's most high-profile business association whose 133 corporate members include many ASX200 chief executives.

The Rio Tinto and BHP resolutions, which both attracted solid-sized votes in favour, focused on the "climate advocacy" of resource sector-focused groups such as the Minerals Council of Australia, which changed its policies on energy and climate after the BHP vote, and the World Coal Association, which BHP ended up quitting.

This time, the ACCR has pointed to comments from the BCA, including a social media post in June that described a 45 per cent emissions reduction target - as advocated by Labor - as "economy wrecking".

It said the BCA had "actively hindered" meaningful climate policy.

"ACCR will continue to shine the spotlight on corporate Australia to ensure that lobby groups no longer stand in the way of the urgent and drastic action that must be taken to reduce emissions,"  said the ACCR's executive director Brynn O'Brien, who pointed to the IPCC report as a "clear warning to companies".

When asked whether the "economy wrecking" statement remained its position, a BCA spokesman pointed to previous comments by chief executive Jennifer Westacott that there had been little analysis of the economic cost of adopting a 45 per cent target.

She has said it would be "excessively risky" to adopt such a target without more assessment, including of the policies that would help deliver this level of abatement.

The BCA threw its support behind the Coalition's since-abandoned NEG, has backed Australia's Paris Agreement commitments, and has called for policy certainty over energy, emissions and climate change. Last week it was reported that the BCA was coordinating a push for companies to "go it alone" on measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, restore energy reliability and improve investor stability.

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The BCA declined to comment on the resolutions or on the ACCR's statement it had hindered climate policy.

Westpac said it was unable to comment on the ACCR resolution "at this stage", saying it would "notify the ASX in line with our obligations".

It is understood Westpac and the ACCR were in discussions about the resolution late last week.

AGM approaching

The ACCR has lodged four shareholder resolutions ahead of the Origin Energy AGM on Wednesday, including one focused on emissions reduction targets, and another on its dealings with traditional owners for its Northern Territory petroleum exploration project (Origin has stated that it has consents from all directly affected stakeholders).

But it is resolution targeting Origin's business associations is likely to attract the most support from investors, following the backing of ISS and CGI Glass Lewis. As well as the BCA, the ACCR's list includes the Australian Industry Greenhouse Network, the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association, the Australian Pipelines and Gas Association, Gas Energy Australia and the Queensland Resources Council - .

"Given the controversial nature of the positions of certain industry associations, including those to which the company belongs, we believe that the requested disclosure could help the company mitigate potential reputational risks, " Glass Lewis told its clients in a note.

There's a strong awareness among investors about [how] policy can be shaped by special interests

Alison George, Regnan

On Thursday, Origin released a statement pledging to "[improve] disclosure of our membership of industry associations, including describing our processes for engagement and our contribution to policy advocacy".

It said that, based on its current assessment, there were "no material differences" between its own energy and climate policies and those of its industry associations". It told Fairfax Media that it supported Australia’s commitment of between 26 and 28 per cent emissions reduction "as a minimum ambition".

Alison George, acting chief executive at Regnan, which guides institutional investors on responsible investment and so-called "ESG" issues, said lobbying - both climate-related and lobbying generally - was a current investor priority.

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"I think that there's a strong awareness among investors about the way in which policy can be shaped by special interests, and that that can be unhelpful when you take a portfolio view," she said. "Most of the investors that we represent are universal owners, they are exposed market wide, and so one company winning at the expense of others is a zero sum game for them."

Ms George noted that Origin's business was "highly exposed to policy outcomes in energy and carbon", saying "we consider that Origin and its investors would benefit from greater policy stability".

"It's through that lens that the lobbying of member organisations should be viewed," she said. "Origin has adopted some very strong stances on lobbying, and if a company states they adopt a standard or practice, investors expect the companies to evidence that".

Open lobby?

The Rio Tinto resolution attracted a vote of 18 per cent in favour, and was backed by major institutional investors including CalPERS, Colonial First State Global Asset Management and Deutsche Asset Management, according to data compiled by Proxy Insight. Industry funds Cbus, VicSuper and Hesta went public with their support before the AGM.

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Several ASX-listed companies, including Bluescope Steel and Boral, have recently volunteered more information about their business group memberships, with Boral revealing last month that it had rejoined the BCA after "a number of years of not being a member".

Indeed, the BCA's membership has swelled slightly over the past year, from 129 to 133 corporate members, but it has also had some departures including Australia Post, IAG and Unilever, who all confirmed they had left.

"We are currently not a member of the BCA as we have other industry partnerships and memberships that meet our needs at the moment," an IAG spokesperson said.

AGL, which quit the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association in 2015 due to climate policy disagreement, is believed to be the only ASX200 company to regularly disclose all of its business group membership fees.

Its latest disclosure reveals it paid $75,000 to the BCA in 2017-18.