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Mr. Buffett parts company from boardroom progressives for two reasons, one having to do with style, the other substance. He is fiercely independent, not surprisingly for a contrarian investor. He takes pains to control his agenda; over the years, friends who asked for even a token contribution to a pet cause were typically disappointed. In his mid-70s, Mr. Buffett announced he would leave the bulk of his estate to the foundation run by his friend Bill Gates. Other than that, he does not outsource his political or social convictions.

This inner-directed style colors everything about Berkshire. Unlike other C.E.O.s, Mr. Buffett does not employ handlers or spokespeople. Calls are typically answered in seconds, not hours. Even Berkshires proxy statement reflects Mr. Buffetts minimalism (many are weighty tomes; Berkshires is 19 pages).

Although Berkshire is a corporate octopus with 383,000 employees and more than 60 operating groups everything from energy and manufacturing to residential brokerage and a premium candy brand only 26 employees work in the corporate office. It eschews corporatewide directives and procedures, letting the units run with near autonomy.

Two of its businesses, Berkshire Hathaway Energy and BNSF Railway, account for more than 90 percent of the companys fossil fuels consumption; each discloses its carbon footprint and a timeline for reduction. Berkshire Energy, which serves 12 million customers, says half of its electricity stems from noncarbon fuels. (About 40 percent of electricity in the United States is generated using zero-carbon fuels.) Berkshire Energy has invested more than $30 billion in renewables, much of it on infrastructure to, as Mr. Buffett puts it, get power from where the wind blows to where people live. Meanwhile, it has been shuttering coal facilities.

But Mr. Buffett rejects what he regards as implausible deadlines, mocking with studied impartiality both defenders of the old order and unrealistic visionaries desiring an instantly new world. He rebuffs the idea that the insurance unit, for example, should monitor the carbon use of its customers. The insurance subsidiary, the proxy notes, is in the business of gauging risk. In terms of the potential effect on profits the reason for securities disclosure Mr. Buffett does not distinguish politically charged categories such as climate from other risks. He bristles at the idea of subjecting Berkshires operating groups, which have vastly different energy profiles, to a boilerplate.

We dont want to be preparing a lot of reports and asking 60 subsidiaries each to do something, Mr. Buffett said at a past meeting. Were not going to spend the time of the people at Berkshire Hathaway Energy responding to questionnaires or trying to score better with somebody that is working on that. He noted that corporate America is worried about activists stirring up controversy, but at Berkshire, where Mr. Buffett owns 31.6 percent of the voting stock, we dont have to worry about that.

Mr. Buffett has said his critics do not read the companys disclosures, and he has a point. While Berkshire is attacked for not disclosing enough on diversity, the company, as required, provides reams of data to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which it makes public (58 percent of its insurance work force is female; 45 percent in service/retail/distribution identify as diverse). But it declines to issue a separate report on its diversity efforts. And few corporations would proclaim, as Berkshire does, that it does not have a policy on how diversity affects consideration of board nominees.

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Opinion | Why Warren Buffett Runs Berkshire Hathaway His Way - The New York Times