Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the annual meeting of the shareholders of NextEra Energy. I'm John Ketchum, your Chairman and CEO, and I hereby call this meeting to order. Let me begin by thanking all of you for attending this meeting or for listening in via webcast. I'd like to begin by making a few introductions. First, on the dais with me today is Charles Sieving, Executive Vice President and our Chief Legal Officer. Also in the room is Scott Seeley, Vice President of Compliance and Corporate Secretary, who will assist in the business of the meeting.
Also with us today are other senior officers of NextEra Energy, Florida Power & Light Company, and NextEra Energy Resources. Next, I will introduce the individuals who are joining me today as nominees for election to our board of directors. Please stand when I call your name. The nominees are Nicole Arnaboldi, a partner of Oak Hill Capital. Nicole has been a director since 2022. James Camaren, former Chairman and CEO of Utilities Inc. James has been a director since 2002. Naren Gursahaney, former CEO of the ADT Corporation, former Chairman of Terminix Global Holdings, previously known as ServiceMaster, as well as former CEO of ServiceMaster.
Naren has been a director since 2014. Kirk Hachigian, former Chairman and CEO of JELD-WEN Holding, Inc., and former Chairman and CEO of Cooper Industries. Kirk has been a director since 2013. Maria Henry, former Chief Financial Officer of Kimberly-Clark Corporation. This is Maria's first year on the ballot. Amy Lane, former Managing Director and Group Leader of the Global Retailing Investment Banking Group of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. Amy has been a director since 2015.
David Porges, former Chairman of Equitrans Midstream Corporation and former Chairman and CEO of EQT Corporation. David has been a director since 2020. Dev Stahlkopf, Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer of Cisco Systems. Dev has been a director since 2023. Art Stall, former President of NextEra Energy's Nuclear Division and our former Chief Nuclear Officer. Art has been a director since 2022. Darryl Wilson, former Vice President of GE Power. Darryl has been a director since 2018. I'd also like to confirm the attendance of our independent auditors, Deloitte & Touche. Representing the firm this morning are Tim Wilhelmy and Sarah Goldberg.
Now let's get to the business of the meeting, which will include a description of the items of business that require approval of shareholders, a discussion of those items only, and a vote on those items. When we finish the business of the meeting, I will adjourn the meeting. With that, I will ask for confirmation that we have a quorum present, so we may conduct the business of the meeting.
Mr. Chairman, more than 87% of our outstanding shares entitled to vote are present, so we have a quorum.
Thank you, Charlie. We have five items of business today, including two shareholder proposals. Those shareholders or their representatives are here to present them. Item number one is the election as directors of the nominees specified in the proxy statement. Item number two is the ratification of the appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP as NextEra Energy's independent registered public accounting firm for 2024. Item number three is the approval by non-binding advisory vote of NextEra Energy's compensation of its named executive officers as disclosed in the proxy statement.
Item number four, related to a board matrix, is proposed by the New York City Employees' Retirement System. Is the proponent or a representative of the proponent here today? If so, please step to the microphone, introduce yourself, and present your proposal.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman, fellow members of the board, and fellow shareholders. My name is Andrew Elkott, and I'm here presenting Proposal Four on behalf of the New York City Comptroller, Brad Lander, and several New York City pension funds, which own over 185 million shares of NextEra. Proposal Four asks for the company to disclose in its annual proxy statement, each director's self-identified gender, race, and/or ethnicity, as well as the skills and attributes that's most relevant to the company's overall business, long-term strategy, and risk. Back in 2017, our office launched the Boardroom Accountability Project.
We asked companies to disclose the board matrix that included skills in gender and race of individual directors. At first, companies were hesitant to disclose this information, citing several reasons. They would say that the board speaks as one or as a collective body, or that they were worried about security of their directors. I was intrigued by this reluctance. I asked myself, "Shouldn't we be proud to say who we are, who we are, and how far we came so that we can inspire others?" As the years have gone by, a growing number of companies have disclosed this information that we have requested in our proposal.
According to DiversIQ, 71% of individual directors of S&P 500 companies disclose their race and ethnicity. These boards include large investors such as BlackRock, Honeywell, and Exelon. Shareholders need this information on skills and experience and diversity of individual directors to assess the quality of each nominee and make informed voting decisions. This is particularly important with the era of universal proxy cards. We do recognize that the company has included a matrix in this year's proxy statement, which discloses its skills and experience and gender of each individual director, but the matrix falls short of including disclosure of the race and ethnicity of each director.
At this time, we'd like to thank you for your consideration of this proposal and ask shareholders for support of this proposal. Thank you.
Thank you. I declare that item number 4 is properly presented. Related to a climate lobbying report is proposed by CCLA Investment Management Limited. Is the proponent or representative of the proponent here today? If so, please step to the microphone, introduce yourself, and present your proposal.
Good morning, once again. I'm here to move the proposal number five on behalf of the CCLA Investment. The proposal is asking, request that the board of directors report to shareholders on its framework by identifying and addressing misalignment between NextEra lobbying and policy influence activities and positions, both direct and indirect, through trade associates, coalitions, alliances, and other organizations, and its Real Zero goal. The report should address the criteria used to assess alignment, the escalation of strategies used to address the misalignment, and the circumstances under which escalation strategies are used. We thank you for your consideration of this proposal at this time.
Thank you. I declare that item number 5 is properly presented. We will now have a discussion on the items of business on the ballot only. If you are a shareholder and have a comment or question on these items of business, please come to the microphone, state your name and the number of shares you own, to introduce yourself. Are there any comments or questions on these items of business? Seeing no other questions, and since under our bylaws, no other nominations or proposals would be timely, we now conduct the vote.
Those who wanna cast a ballot or submit a proxy, please raise your hand, and a balloting representative will assist you. If you have already sent in your proxy or are submitting it now, you do not need to fill out a ballot. It appears that all shareholders wishing to vote by ballot have done so, so I hereby declare the polls closed. I believe that the inspector of election has provided the preliminary results of the vote to the chief legal officer. Charlie, would you please announce the preliminary results?
Sure, Mr. Chairman. The preliminary results are as follows: on item 1, the election of directors, all nominees received at least 93% of the votes cast, and therefore, all of them have been elected. On item 2, more than 94% of the votes cast have approved Deloitte & Touche as our registered, independent public accounting firm for 2024, so the appointment has been ratified. On item 3, more than 88% of the votes cast have approved by non-binding advisory vote the compensation of our named executive officers, so the compensation has been approved.
On item 4, more than 59% of the votes cast are against the shareholder proposal related to a board matrix, so that proposal has not been approved. On item five, more than 67% of the votes cast are against the shareholder proposal related to a climate lobbying report, and so that proposal also has not been approved.
Thank you, Charlie. As we have completed our business, I hereby declare that the NextEra Energy annual meeting of shareholders is adjourned. Please be safe and enjoy the rest of your day.