GE Shareholders: Stop Lobbying for Greenhouse Gas RegulationOne of the cornerstones of activist investors is lobbying for better carbon disclosure. As the thinking goes, putting it down on paper will make executives think about improving their carbon impact.

Yesterday, General Electric (NYSE:GE) lost a shareholder bid to quash GE's lobbying efforts to better regulate carbon emissions. GE has a large "Ecomagination" business selling all manner of climate friendly products. The problem is that, even though Ecomagination is a $10 billion business and is one of GE's fastest growing divisions, it is a small fraction of GE's overall $160 billion business.

In this case, an activist investor is on the other side of the table, encouraging GE to NOT lobby for such regulations, on the thought that it could harm the rest of GE's portfolio. This does not mean that the proxy proposal will win. It just means that GE can not block it from coming to a vote.

Is this an investor activism backlash?

Mark Brandon is the owner of First Sustainable, a socially responsible investment adivsory, and author of The Sustainable Log blog and newsletter.