Deere Must Demonstrate Clear Emissions ROI to End Greenwashing Doubts

23 Feb 2026Deere Must Demonstrate Clear Emissions ROI to End Greenwashing Doubts

Washington, D.C. - Ahead of Deere & Company's annual shareholder meeting this week, the National Center for Public Policy Research's Free Enterprise Project (FEP) is urging Deere investors to support its shareholder proposal requesting an "Emissions Reduction ROI Audit."

Proposal #4 requests that Deere's board produce a report "assessing the current and expected return on investment (ROI) of the Company's emission reduction goals, accounting for cognizable litigation and reputation risk."

FEP writes in its supporting statement:

Not enough has been done to assure investors that such a realignment of Deere towards renewable energy sources is in the best interest of shareholders by providing positive return on investment…. Instead, Deere highlights its solar and wind investments, both of which do not include dollar totals or return on investment projections. Even investors committed to sustainability investing likely need accurate related cost information for proper share price valuation, which is information apparently not readily available to active shareholders, prospective investors, or even government agencies.

… Deere's reduction project may be a compelling target for anti-greenwashing action by the SEC, or another interested body. The SEC has historically targeted companies engaging in forms of greenwashing with considerable financial penalties…. Should Deere be implicated in or sued for greenwashing, the impact on shareholders could be considerable, as company valuation and investor confidence plummets in response.

At Wednesday's meeting, FEP Executive Director Steve Milloy will add:

The simple math is that Deere & Co. could stop selling gas-powered equipment today and forever, and it would make no discernible difference to the atmosphere, average global temperature, the weather or the climate….

So is it possible that Deere can make money off the climate hoax by selling pointlessly more expensive "green" equipment that isn't nearly as good as the gas-powered equipment it is intended to replace? The car industry just tried that. And it lost tens of billions of dollars and has now all but abandoned electric vehicles….

Worse, all this green junk just makes our country that much more dependent on Communist China, where parts and components are made. If I were in management, I'd be more worried about relying on Communist China than I would be about the weather 100 years from now.

FEP allies such as the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) are also rallying behind Proposal #4. In a letter to Deere investors, NLPC noted that "Deere's silence on the specific costs and projected returns of its electrification and renewable fuel programs is a breach of fiduciary transparency. Furthermore, the Company faces significant litigation and reputational risks as the SEC and other regulators increasingly target 'greenwashing'- the practice of making material environmental claims without sufficient financial or scientific substantiation. Shareholders deserve to know if Deere is sacrificing its core competitive advantage - reliable, high-energy-density diesel machinery - for politically fashionable but economically unproven 'green' alternatives."

Deere shareholders can vote FOR Proposal 4, "Report on the Return on Investment of Emission Reduction Goals," using their proxy ballots.

About

The National Center for Public Policy Research, founded in 1982, is a non-partisan, free-market, independent conservative think-tank. Ninety-four percent of its support comes from individuals, less than four percent from foundations and less than two percent from corporations. It receives over 350,000 individual contributions a year from over 60,000 active recent contributors.

The Free Enterprise Project, the original and premier opponent of the woke takeover of American corporate life, aims to push corporations to respect their fiduciary obligations and to stay out of political and social engineering. More relevant information about individual corporations and FEP's proxy voting recommendations (including how to automate voting your values) can be found in FEP's mobile and web app, ProxyNavigator.

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