Welcome to the Marsh McLennan Annual Meeting of Stockholders. I will now turn the meeting over to Kate Brennan, Deputy General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer of Marsh McLennan.
Good morning, and welcome to the Marsh McLennan 2021 Annual Meeting Stockholders. My name is Kate Brennan, and I'm the Deputy General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer of the company. We're pleased to host our 2nd virtual meeting, which allows us to be more inclusive and reach a greater number of our stockholders given the health and safety concerns surrounding the COVID-nineteen pandemic. This meeting is being recorded and will be available online after the meeting. We ask you not to record the meeting.
Please note that remarks made by management may include statements relating to future events or results, which are forward looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Please keep in mind that a variety of factors could cause actual results to differ materially. In addition, remarks made today may refer to non GAAP financial measures. Please refer to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for additional information. We will start with the business portion of our meeting, which will be conducted by our independent Chairman, Ed Hanway.
Next, our President and Chief Executive Officer, Dan Glaser, will speak about the company. Finally, we will have a question and answer period. Validated stockholders may ask questions in the designated field on the web portal. We will do our best to respond to as many questions as possible. Questions on the same topic or that are otherwise related may be grouped, summarized and answered together.
I will now turn the meeting over to our Independent Chairman, Ed Hanway.
Good morning. I'm Ed Hanway, the Independent Chairman of Marsh and McLennan. On behalf of the company, its directors and officers, welcome and thank you for coming to our 2nd virtual annual meeting of stockholders. We appreciate you joining us via this platform given the health and safety concerns surrounding the COVID-nineteen pandemic. I am now proud to introduce the company's Independent Directors.
Tony Anderson, former Vice Chair and Midwest Area Managing Partner of Ernst and Young Oscar Fanjul, Vice Chairman of Omega Capital Debbie Hopkins, former Chief Executive Officer of Citi Ventures and Chief Innovation Officer of Citigroup Tamara Ingram, former Global Chairman of Wunderman Thompson Jane Lute, Strategic Director of Sitpa North America Steve Mills, former Executive Vice President of Software and Systems of IBM Bruce Nalop, former Chief Financial Officer of E*TRADE Financial Corporation Mark Oken, Chairman of Falfurius Capital Partners Morte Shapiro, President of Northwestern University Lloyd Yates, former Executive Vice President of Duke Energy and President of Duke Energy's Carolinas region and Dave Yost, former President and Chief Executive Officer of AmerisourceBergen. Dan Glaser also joins us. In addition to being the company's President and CEO, Dan is also a member of the Board of Directors. Bob Tucker of Deloitte and Touche is also in attendance. Deloitte and Touche is the company's independent registered public accounting firm and Bob is available to answer questions during the Q and A session later in the program.
The 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders is officially called to order. After proceeding with the formal part of the meeting, we will announce the preliminary voting results. We have received affidavits confirming the distribution of the 2020 Annual Report, the 2021 Notice of Annual Meeting and proxy statement and voting instructions to stockholders of record on March 22, 2021. Representatives of Broadridge have been appointed to serve as inspectors of election for this meeting and have taken their inspectors' oath. The inspectors have reported that more than 50% of the outstanding shares are present in person or by proxy, and so a quorum is present for the transaction of business.
We are meeting today to vote on the matters described in the proxy statement. Voting will take place on these matters after they are presented. The first order of business is the election of nominees listed in the proxy statement to serve as directors with terms expiring in 2022. No other nominations were submitted to the company. The company has a majority voting standard in the case of director elections that like today's are uncontested.
Accordingly, each nominee must receive a majority of the votes cast with respect to his or her nomination in order to be elected to the Board. The second item on the agenda, commonly known as a say on pay proposal, enables our stockholders to approve by non binding vote the compensation of our named executive officers as disclosed in the proxy statement. The 3rd and last item on the agenda calls for the stockholders to ratify the appointment of Deloitte and Touche as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021. The Audit Committee previously approved this appointment. The polls are open.
Stockholders present who have already voted by proxy need not vote again unless they wish to change their votes. Any stockholder who has not yet voted or wishes to change their vote may do so by clicking on the voting button on the web portal and following the instructions there. The poles are now closed. The preliminary tally based on the votes cast as of the start of this meeting shows the following results. The nominees for election to the Board have been duly elected.
The compensation of the named executive officers has been approved by advisory vote and the appointment of Deloitte and Touche as the company's independent auditors for 2021 has been ratified. The inspectors of election will provide a final certified report of the vote following the meeting. The report will become a part of the record of this meeting and is not expected to affect the outcome of the voting announced today. A summary of the outcome of the vote will be posted to the company's website and details of the final voting results will be filed with the SEC. The formal portion of Marsh McLennan's 2021 Annual Meeting is now adjourned.
It gives me great pleasure to turn things over to Dan.
Thank you, Ed. Good morning and thank you for joining us today. It's an honor to lead such a formidable resilient company, one with a proud 150 year legacy. I am excited to bring you up to date on our progress and achievements over the past year. First, I'd like to thank our 76,000 talented colleagues for their dedication to clients and one another this past year.
I'd also like to recognize our outstanding executive committee. John Doyle, CEO of Marsh Peter Hern, CEO of Guy Carpenter Martine Furlong, CEO of Mercer Scott McDonald, CEO of Oliver Wyman Peter Bouchard, General Counsel Dominic Burke, Vice Chair and Mark McGivney, Chief Financial Officer. John, Peter, Martine and Scott also serve as Vice Chairs of Marsh McLennan. I especially want to welcome our 2 newest executive committee members, Paul Beswick, Chief Information Officer and Carmen Fernandez, Chief People Officer, who were promoted to these roles in January of this year. I'd also like to acknowledge our Board of Directors led by Ed Hanway, our independent Chairman.
Thank you for all your guidance and leadership. 2020 was a year of urgency and disruption, one that made Marsh McLennan faster and more flexible. We pushed ourselves to innovate for the greater good, developing new products and services to address the coronavirus pandemic. Within weeks of COVID's onset in the U. S, we advocated on behalf of clients, urging leaders around the world to consider public private partnerships for pandemic risk insurance.
We are leading the way to build financial resilience for pandemics through public private partnerships in more than 40 countries. Meanwhile, we have been advising clients on return to office and new normal strategies underpinned by Oliver Wyman's pandemic navigator, a leading disease progression model whose forecasts have been applied by sources such as the U. S. Centers For Disease Control and Prevention. The pandemic acted as a natural accelerant to our collaboration efforts, and we are harnessing that spirit to address other challenges.
As an enterprise, we committed to focus on 4 critical areas that have a dramatic impact on our clients' businesses and the world, where we're uniquely positioned to bring the full power of our collective capability as a company to bear. They include helping to close the world's protection gaps, advancing healthy societies everywhere, building climate resilience and mitigating cyber risk. The events of the past year reaffirm that the purpose that unites our colleagues has never been more important or more relevant. We make a difference in the moments that matter. 2020 brought out the best of Marsh McLennan and our performance was nothing short of remarkable under the circumstances.
We generated $17,200,000,000 in consolidated revenue in 2020, our 11th consecutive year of underlying revenue growth. Our adjusted earnings per share grew 7%, impressive in one of the worst economic recessions. In 2020, we pressed ahead with key acquisitions for Marsh McLennan Agency, a record year for MMA in terms of acquired revenue. We also invested in our digital and technological capabilities, including LINC, a digital experience that gives Marsh clients round the clock access to insurance policies, programs and exposure information. We continue to perform well in 2021.
Our Q1 2021 results were excellent. Our consolidated underlying revenue growth of 6% in the first quarter was the highest in over 6 years. Our business has proven resilient throughout the pandemic and with the global economy now beginning to turn the corner, we are well positioned for a very good year. Truly great companies must deliver both exceptional financial performance and be good employers and global citizens. We are working on many fronts to advance the interests of all of our stakeholders.
From the outset of the pandemic, we put our colleagues and their families first. We prioritize safety and mental health, jobs and financial security, flexibility and creating a sense of connection. When communities around the world joined in solidarity last year to confront racial and social injustice, we focused on the gaps in hiring diversity and real inclusion at our own company. We introduced our Leading the Change program to address them with urgency. We launched several new initiatives to support career development, connection and empowerment for our Black colleagues as well as foster allyship and inclusive leadership across our enterprise.
At our 2020 Annual Meeting, we committed to adopt the principles of the task force on climate related financial disclosure and issue a report aligned with that framework in Q1 of this year. True to our word, in March, we published our first integrated ESG report. Our report aligns with the recommendations of TCFD and provides enhanced disclosure in a variety of areas drawn from other ESG reporting frameworks, from how we measure our own carbon footprint to how we use data to manage our workforce. We are also pressing forward on our environmental agenda. In January, we committed to be carbon neutral as a company in 2021 and reduce our carbon emissions by 15% by 2025.
These initiatives underscore our commitment to ESG, both in our own operations and in the work that we do for clients. We are creating solutions related to climate change, diversity and inclusion, affordable healthcare, cybersecurity and responsible investing. This is an exciting year for Marsh McLennan. 2021 represents the 150th anniversary of the company. Few enterprises endure, let alone prosper for a century and a half.
As we look back on our storied history, one theme runs through it all. This company steps up. At times of war and peace, in eras of transcendent innovation and serving the public good. In March, we started a new chapter. We changed our name from Marsh and McLennan Companies to Marsh and McLennan.
It was a small, but important change that better reflects the way that our company has come together. The challenges before all of us are vast, yet so are the possibilities. As we face this new world together, one thing will never change. Marsh McLennan will be at our client's side, finding opportunity and navigating uncertainty in the areas of risk, strategy and people. Our work continues.
We cannot do it without the support of our shareholders. At Marsh and McLennan, we talk a lot about change and new possibilities. It is your long term commitment that enables them all. Thank you for being with us on this journey.
Great. Thanks very much, Dan and Ed. We're now going to open it up for Q and A. And we'll start with a few questions that were submitted in advance. We have a number of topics to get through.
So to be more efficient with our time, I'm going to group and summarize questions related to the same topic for you to answer together. Let's start with the competitive landscape, Dan. 2 of our largest competitors have announced plans to combine. What opportunities do you see for Marsh McLennan in the context of the current market uncertainty?
Thanks, Kate. The consolidation going on in the marketplace currently will benefit Marsh McLennan. They'll help us build our capabilities and our talent, obtain new business and we'll also benefit from a flight to quality due to market uncertainty. As I've said before, I don't think the combination of Aon and Willis is good for clients or for the market, but I do think it will be good for Marsh McLennan. We have made a number of strategic hires and we are excited about the high quality talent we have been able to add.
I have said before that I believe working at Marsh McLennan is a choice not just for people going through disruption, but for experts broadly within our industry.
Thanks, Dan. One follow-up to that. If the transaction does close, how will the competitive landscape change? How will Marsh McLennan position itself differently to clients and prospects?
We like our strategic position. I wouldn't trade positions with anybody. We believe we are set up very well. We're in the right countries. We have the highest quality colleague base and we have a client list that would be the envy of any company in the world.
With the big three potentially becoming the big 2, we stand to benefit in multiple ways. Our 2 largest competitors will be internally focused for what I estimate remains a multi year period. Additionally, we are on our front foot and United post our JLT acquisition And if there are opportunities to win business because our competitors are distracted, we will take advantage of it. We're going to continue to focus on keeping clients at the center of everything we do and helping them navigate the challenges and opportunities ahead.
Terrific. Thank you, Dan. Let's pivot to ESG. At this meeting last year, you promised that we would release our inaugural ESG report in the Q1 of this year, which we did. The report highlights our climate commitments to be carbon neutral in 2021, as you mentioned, and reduced our overall emissions by 15% by 2025.
We also detail how we're supporting clients with a responsible transition to a low carbon economy. We received a few questions that asked about our approach to fossil fuels in the context of these commitments. A few questions relate to specific coal power projects and one question asks whether Marsh McLennan will adopt a coal exclusion policy more broadly. Given that our policy is not to comment on any specific clients, let me ask you the broader question. Will Marsh McLennan adopt a coal exclusion policy?
Thanks, Kate. Last year, we developed a set of principles to bolster our commitment to sustainable development goals around climate change mitigation, as well as energy security and access to reliable and sustainable energy supplies. These principles do not contain a bright line policy against any industry. Rather they require us to evaluate proposed engagements that potentially conflict in a fundamental way with these goals. These client engagement principles are set out in our ESG report and operationalize within our businesses.
It's important to note that we have declined to participate in certain projects as a result of this policy. Aligned with these principles, Marsh is supporting energy clients as they transition to renewable sources of energy. We've invested in a large global team of renewable energy experts to help reduce the cost of risk for renewable projects, to help facilitate faster, more profitable adoption of renewable energy sources. And we are working hard to secure insurance for innovative carbon reducing technologies. We also recognized in many communities, particularly lower income emerging nations currently rely on fossil fuels.
If energy producers can no longer arrange insurance or capital to sustain their operations in the near term, then these communities will disproportionately feel the impact. We believe we can best serve all communities by helping energy clients make this transition more quickly and more responsibly than by simply cutting them off.
Great. Thank you, Dan. Let's stick with ESG for a minute. We've received a question about our political contributions given the current political climate. Specifically, one shareholder has asked whether Marsh McLennan will commit not to fund any member of U.
S. Congress who objected to the certification of the electoral college in January and separately, whether the company will take a position on voting laws, such as the recent law passed in Georgia. Can you share the company's approach to political contributions and share how we're using our voice on these important issues?
Let me start by saying that we have a policy not to use corporate funds in support of political campaigns and we have not made any contributions to political parties or candidates for public office. I encourage you to take a look at our ESG report where we describe our political spending and how we manage political interests in more detail. If you take a step back from political contributions, at Marsh McLennan, we do not hesitate to use our voice to stand up for our values and express our beliefs on the critical issues of our time. In January, I joined other leaders in signing the Partnership for New York City letter urging Congress to certify the presidential election results. The letter emphasized that the country's duly elected leaders deserve the respect and bipartisan support of all Americans at a time when we are dealing with the worst health and economic crisis in modern history.
Marsh McLennan aligned itself with policymakers who demonstrate a commitment to the shared principles of our company. In April, I sent a note to our U. S. Colleagues affirming our support of free, accessible and secure elections. We believe the right to vote is one of the most essential ways that citizens can use their voices and be heard.
To that end, we support an inclusive process where every eligible voter has the right to register to vote, access to a polling place or an absentee ballot and the ability to cast their vote either ahead of or on Election Day.
Great, great. Thank you, Dan, for that. I'm going to pivot away from ESG and turn to a different topic. We have a shareholder who has asked the participants in our defined benefit pension plan receive a 2% annual increase. I believe that question was asked last year as well, but would you like to comment on that?
Yes. Our retirement plan does not provide for our U. S. Retirement plan does not provide for a cost of living increase and the company does not currently intend to provide for such an increase in the foreseeable future. We're comfortable that our overall benefit program, including our retirement plans is appropriate and competitive in the market.
Okay. Thank you, Dan. We've just received another question through our portal, asking historically we have commented on potential dividend increases at this meeting. And our shareholders asking whether you can comment on any potential dividend increase at this point in time?
Sure. Well, I think in the past, there have been occasions where we have announced a dividend increase at this meeting, but that it would be effective starting in Q3. So we have plenty of time between now and Q3 to figure out our dividend policy. I mean, we expect to have a good year. And our dividend to us is sacrosanct, and we have for a number of years now increased our dividend year over year.
And I would anticipate that we'll also increase our dividend in 2021, but we don't have an announcement on that at this point in time.
Terrific. Thanks, Ann. We've got one last question in the queue and I like this question. So I think this is a good question for us to end on. One of our colleagues noted that every May we celebrate Global Volunteer Month, which is 31 days dedicated to advancing good and creating meaningful change in our communities.
This colleague has asked if you can share what our leaders are planning to do on this front. Do you have any stories that you can share?
Sure. It's an important topic. I mean, our social impact efforts focus on building resilient communities. By aligning our community engagement programs with the company's priorities and our experience, we demonstrate our commitment to our communities while supporting the business. Throughout the year, we provide colleagues time to volunteer during a workday for an organization or a cause passionate about.
And in 2020, 8,370 Marsh McLennan employees volunteered more than 100,000 hours across 62 countries, supporting selected nonprofits around the world. Some examples of our executive committee members and senior management giving back to our communities during this Global Volunteer Month are Martine Furlong participated in events on food waste, activities with STEM Girls and mentoring and career advice for STEM students. John Doyle is volunteering with Project Helping, an organization that is working with more than 600 Marsh McLennan colleagues this month to build care kits for people in need. And Ricardo Brockman will be participating in an activity organized by Ford Foundation Mexico to help low income youth gain experience and get a better job. These are just a few examples of the ways we are giving back to our communities.
Thanks very much, Dan. I know that I'm attending a Red Cross blood drive myself this month. So, look forward to that. So Dan, there are no more questions in the queue at the moment. So I think that is it for our Q and A session.
Okay. Thanks, Kate. In closing, I would just like to thank everyone for your participation in our second virtual meeting of stockholders. I'd also like to thank our team for facilitating this virtual meeting so that we could hear directly from our stockholders. Operator, this concludes today's call.