ISS, Mercy Investment Services' proxy voting vendor, recently released its final review of resolutions on environmental and social issues during the 2011 proxy season. In 2011, Mercy Investment Services voted 25,471 resolutions in 2,146 meetings, an increase from 2010. You can view the outcomes of Mercy's 2011 shareholder resolutions here.

Throughout the United States, average support for environmental and social resolutions exceeded 20 percent for the first time, coming in at 20.2 percent compared to 18.1 percent in 2010 and 16.3 percent in 2009. In the year following the U.S. Supreme Court's controversial Citizens United decision, the number of shareholder proposals on political contributions rose notably, from 56 to 88, with 55 ultimately coming to votes. Support of these resolutions rose slightly this year, up to 27 percent from 25 percent.

Environmental resolutions overall saw more support, increasing from 19.2 percent in 2010 to 21.4 percent this year. Resolutions related to hydraulic fracturing reached 40.7 percent support, significant for the second year of campaigns on this issue. After a dip in 2010, support for proposals on human rights rose three percentage points to almost 18 percent.

With the 2011 proxy season behind us, investors are now in the middle of filing proposals to meet deadlines for 2012 meetings. Mercy Investment Services will publish updates in Investing in Mercy and on www.mercyinvestmentservices.org as 2012 resolutions are filed on priority issues including human rights, human trafficking, water, climate change and sustainable food supply.

Information reprinted with permission from ISS.