By Ross Kerber
Oct 29 (Reuters) - This is the weekly Reuters Sustainable Finance Newsletter, which you can sign up for here .
You know Tesla TSLA.O cares when the electric vehicle maker responds to a media question, even if it was only to decline to comment. That's what happened after I asked its press department about its shareholder meeting next week and how voting might go.
There is more on Tesla and CEO Elon Musk's pay in this week's main story, linked below. I have also flagged our coverage of a lawsuit against Brazil's top meatpacker, a new push on carbon accounting, and Bill Gates' new priorities.
Please follow me on LinkedIn and/or Bluesky. You can reach me via ross.kerber@thomsonreuters.com
Tesla pay critics line up vs new robber baron era
Tesla critics hope to block the stratospheric compensation proposed for its CEO Elon Musk but face an uphill fight.
Investors in the electric vehicle maker will decide on November 6 whether to approve the pay package for Musk that is potentially worth $1 trillion - likely the largest-ever CEO compensation agreement. Tesla's board is pushing for shareholders to approve the plan, with Chair Robyn Denholm warning on Monday that Musk could leave if the deal is rejected.
Meanwhile, longtime skeptics of the company's corporate governance, including Democratic U.S. state leaders and union officials, have launched a campaign to vote down the offer.
Several have tried and failed to block earlier record payouts to Musk, including his $56 billion compensation plan that investors reapproved last year amid legal challenges that remain.
Will this time be different? You can click here to read my story on the matter. And you car-biz junkies out there can subscribe to the Reuters Auto File newsletter which also carries items about Tesla and its rivals.
Company news
In a fresh legal challenge for the world's biggest meatpacker ahead of global climate talks in its home country, Brazil's JBS JBSS3.SA has been accused of making false climate claims including about its commitment to reaching net-zero emissions.
A global carbon accounting initiative backed by Exxon Mobil XOM.N, BASF BASFn.DE and others will form an independent panel to guide its work.
Three companies including Westinghouse Electric, Cameco CCO.TO and Brookfield Asset Management BAM.TO said they are in a public partnership to build at least $80 billion of nuclear reactors across the U.S.
On my radar
World leaders should focus on improving health outcomes rather than temperature targets ahead of the COP30 conference, billionaire and philanthropist Bill Gates posted on his blog.
Some 76% of investors and the public think the U.S. government should require AI content watermarking for consumers, according to a new survey released by research and polling organization Just Capital.
Norway's government won a round when the European Court of Human Rights ruled against a lawsuit brought by young activists who claimed the country's Arctic oil exploration puts their future at risk.
(Reporting by Ross Kerber in Boston; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
((ross.kerber@thomsonreuters.com; (617) 412 0093;))