Investors working with Rhia Ventures filed a record 30 proposals this proxy season to advance comprehensive and reproductive health care, double the number from the 2022 proxy season. The subject matter of the proposals expanded from last year’s focus on risk mitigation and political spending misalignment to include a number of new areas of concern that have intensified since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in June 2022.
Read moreRussian Military's Reliance on Dual-Use Components Exposes Companies to Human Rights Risks
The Russian war of aggression against Ukraine has already resulted in more than 69,000 Russian war crimes and crimes of aggression registered by the Office of Prosecutor General of Ukraine. In addition, 18,900 Ukrainians have been killed or injured, and millions more have been forced to flee their homes. With this humanitarian crisis, investor concerns have grown about the human rights risks faced by companies with operations and/or value chain activities in conflict-affected and high-risk areas
Read moreBig Oil Tax Dodging, Transparency and Standards
This year, Oxfam America and co-filers have filed a series of new tax transparency proposals at extractive industry giants ExxonMobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips, requesting that the companies disclose country-by-country financial information in line with Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards. This disclosure would reveal key insights for investors seeking to evaluate a company’s risk profile, including information surrounding revenues, profits, losses and tax payments.
Read moreIndependent Audits Can Further Worker Health and Safety
Safety at work is a bare minimum for workers’ dignity. Yet, far too often, it is at risk. In June 2022, the International Labor Organization (ILO) recognized a safe and healthy work environment as a universal labor right, adding it to the core ILO fundamental principles of rights at work.
Read moreSupporting Workers' Right to Freedom of Association
The New York City Retirement Systems (NYCRS) submitted shareholder proposals at seven companies to safeguard workers’ freedom of association and collective bargaining rights, which are defined as fundamental human rights under internationally recognized human rights standards.
Read moreWar on ESG Highlights the Need for Lobbying Disclosure
For 2023, proponents have filed at least 30 proposals asking for lobbying disclosure reports that include federal and state lobbying amounts, payments to trade associations and 501(c)(4) social welfare groups used for lobbying, and payments to tax-exempt organizations that write and endorse model legislation.
Read moreThe Path to a Peaceful Settlement in the ESG Culture Wars
It is healthy to have a debate about ESG: What it is, and what it isn’t; what it can’t do, what it can do, and what it was never meant to do. The term has probably run its full life cycle, and it is time to address the underlying issues of what is being debated.
Read moreWhat the SEC's Mandatory Climate Disclosure Proposal Means for Investors and Market Protection
The adage “you can’t manage what you don’t measure” is a sound argument for measuring and assessing climate risks, which cost the world over $313 billion in 2022 alone. Investors have expressed their resounding support, including more than 600 investors who signed the 2022 Global Investor Statement urging governments to address climate risks through mandatory disclosure.
Read more2023 Update on SEC Shareholder Proposal Rules and Guidelines
Recent efforts of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Staff to create a more objective and efficient process for handling shareholder proposals have borne fruit in 2023, resulting in a 30 percent reduction in company-filed challenges to shareholder proposals. Clearer guidelines from the Staff have made it possible for shareholders to draft more defensible proposals.
Read moreESG Data Helps Assess Value, Potential Returns and Manage Investment Risk
Institutional investors have been paying attention to environmental, social and governance risk factors long before it was “ESG.” Without fanfare or agenda, these long-term investors took notice of weak governance practices that led to corruption, friction with workforces that led to strikes and factories that spewed toxins into rivers leading to lawsuits from those who lived downstream.
Read moreRepublican Efforts to Limit ESG Investing are Anti-Capitalist
There is a cohort of elected officials in the United States presently engaged in an anti-capitalist crusade against free-market principles. No, they are not socialists. They are congressional Republicans, and they are attempting to prevent financial institutions from allocating capital in accordance with investor preferences and risk management principles. This attempted crackdown is purely ideological in nature — it is an exercise in political pressure to force a gross government overreach into U.S. capital markets.
Read moreThe Anti-ESG Shareholder Proponents
Shareholder proponents who oppose most of the ideas supported by ESG investors have been around for a long time, but in the last two years they have filed many more proposals and a few new players have emerged.
Read moreMajority Votes on Deforestation Put Pressure on Industry Laggards
Shareholder concern about deforestation speaks for itself. Four majority votes on Green Century proposals in the last three years – Bunge, 99 percent; Bloomin’ Brands, 76 percent; Procter & Gamble, 67.6 percent; and Home Depot, 64.6 percent – build upon dozens of no-deforestation agreements that shareholders have won and have helped curb climate change and preserve endangered species around the world.
Read morePetrochemical Companies' Unsustainable Production Policies Drive Plastic Pollution Crisis
Following strong votes last year, As You Sow is expanding engagement on plastics and petrochemicals for 2023. The plastic pollution crisis continues unabated, with 139 million tons of single-use plastic waste created in 2021, six million more tons than in 2019, according to a recent report by Minderoo Foundation. Optimism is rising for a global treaty on plastics within the next two years that could include potential curbs on plastic production after initial treaty negotiations in December 2022 in Uruguay.
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