In May 2023, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) successfully filed a motion to intervene in a federal case brought by the anti-ESG group the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), challenging a shareholder resolution No Action determination. The NAM motion opened a broader challenge to the SEC’s authority to provide guidance regarding whether shareholder resolutions could be allowed on a company’s proxy for a vote, claiming that this process violates principles of corporate First Amendment rights enshrined in the Citizens United ruling.

Over the past decade, the investor community has worked with hundreds of companies, regulators and investment organizations to address climate change. Why? Because cutting emissions is a prudent and effective business management strategy that reduces a host of risks

The modern administrative system was set up in recognition of the needs of a technologically developed society where the lives of citizens are affected by dozens and dozens of complex areas. From air pollution, to drugs, the internet, transportation, education, chemicals, railroads, airwaves, consumer protection, and health, agencies set the rules of the road for some of the most important areas of our lives.

This year proxy and shareholder proposal rules and practice are evolving to create greater accountability and efficiency. Simultaneously, so called anti-ESG efforts are pressing a more disruptive policy agenda that could eviscerate the rights of share owners to file and vote on environmental and social proposals.

My first serious introduction to the concepts and practice of “active ownership” and proxy voting came in the early 2000s as the director of a newly created family foundation, the Singing Field Foundation. At that time, I joined the Environmental Grantmakers Association and began attending its conferences and those of other environmental funder affinity groups. Earlier, as a college student, I was on the periphery of the campaigns around university endowments and investments in South Africa. And, I have always felt that mission-driven organizations with invested assets should take great care that those investments not be in conflict with the mission.

Natural gas proponents have long framed it as a “bridge fuel” for meeting rising energy demands, while decreasing utilities’ dependence on carbon-intensive coal. Unfortunately, the power sector is now more focused on extending the natural gas bridge than crossing it.

In the United States alone, 23 different billion-dollar weather and climate disasters occurred, incurring more than $90 billion in damages in just the first eight months of the year. With these impacts cascading through corporate value chains, the business case for action on climate risk has never been clearer.

Between now and 2030, companies must reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to minimize the risk of exceeding a 1.5°C global temperature increase. Investors want corporate climate transition strategies that deliver tangible emissions reductions and scalable net-zero solutions.

Biodiversity loss is a global systemic risk. Wildlife populations have declined by an average of 69 percent since 1970, with an estimated one million plant and animal species at risk of extinction by 2050 – approximately 25 percent of all species on Earth.

As thousands of large companies make the transition to a net-zero emissions economy by reducing greenhouse gases, they must not only decarbonize but also consider the real impacts of changes in their operations on their employees and the communities where they operate.

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, on behalf of the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, Teachers’ Retirement System, and Board of Education Retirement System (the NYC Retirement Systems), submitted shareholder proposals to six major North American Banks — Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase and Royal Bank of Canada — requesting that they disclose annually their Clean Energy Supply Financing Ratio (the Clean Energy Ratio).

As governments worldwide struggle to keep the Paris agreement’s goal of limiting global average temperature rise to 1.5°C within reach, pressure on oil and gas companies is reaching an all-time high. Global bodies such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and International Energy Agency are emphatic about the urgent need for transparent, immediate, and ambitious decarbonization in the oil and gas industry.

While soda bottles and fast-food containers are usually cited as major sources of single-use plastic that escape capture and pollute rivers and oceans, cigarettes often have been overlooked as another major source of plastic pollution. Yet cigarette filters are a form of single-use plastic and, by volume, are likely the most littered form of plastic on the planet.

As You Sow recently launched a Biodiversity Program in response to increasing global concern about the systemic risks to nature posed by biodiversity loss and looming ecosystem collapse. These risks include food insecurity, fresh water, clean air, climate change and the collapse of innumerable ecosystem services relied on by companies, communities and the world. The benefits of a functioning environment are at risk and shareholders are beginning to raise the alarm.

For 2024, more than 30 shareholder proposals have been filed 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.

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and several colleagues wrote to SEC Chair Gary Gensler on Nov. 15, 2023, to ask about any plans the commission has to mandate fuller disclosure of company approaches to political influence by way of lobbying.

Today’s headlines are focused on the threats to democracy fueled by the looming 2024 presidential and congressional elections. Far less attention is being paid to the corporate treasury dollars underwriting activities that imperil our democracy.

Planned Parenthood Action Fund (PPAF) works to ensure all people have equitable access to quality, affordable sexual and reproductive health care no matter their background or location. This includes protecting the ability of 600 Planned Parenthood health centers to serve economically and medically underserved patients across the United States.

Income disparity is one of the starkest indicators of our societal failures to foster a more equitable society and as a result, a more dynamic economy. In the United States 95 million workers have limited workplace flexibility and mobility, low collective bargaining ability, and minimal (if any) health and financial benefits. They also experience the highest exposure to workplace health and safety hazards, job stress, employment volatility, and exploitation.

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts look to ensure all employees, regardless of race or sex, get a fair shot. The recent Supreme Court decision to end affirmative action in college admissions does not affect companies’ abilities to run DEI programs – although it may impact their pipeline of incoming talent.

For decades, Trinity Health along with other members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility’s Health Equity Group have made improving affordability of and access to medicines a focus for corporate engagements with the pharma sector. The United States has some of the highest prescription drug prices in the world. This affects not only patients who can’t afford needed medicines but also threatens healthcare budgets

Environmental justice ensures that everyone, regardless of income, race or national origin, has the same environmental protections and can meaningfully participate in policies that shape their communities. In reality, low-income communities and communities of color in the United States have faced a long history of racial inequity and environmental injustice.

Big Tech, including Amazon, Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft, is investing hundreds of billions of dollars to dominate the AI race. This year, shareholder proposals ask tech companies to increase transparency around AI and assess AI-related risks, particularly to children and elections

In January 2024, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared at a U.S. Senate hearing regarding online child sexual exploitation. In the back of the room stood parents holding photos of their children who died after online sexual exploitation and cyberbullying. At one point Mr. Zuckerberg said to them “No one should go through the things that your families have suffered, and this is why we invest so much and we are going to continue doing industry-wide efforts to make sure no one has to go through the things your families have had to suffer.”

Shareholders have struggled to enforce corporate director accountability. Beyond contested board elections, shareholders today have little practical, direct impact on directors.

On one important subject, director pay, at almost all U.S. companies, directors have absolute authority over their compensation.

In today’s marketplace, companies are under increasing scrutiny regarding their public impacts—and their governance of these matters. This has serious material implications for all stakeholders.

Investors currently get the same voting advice from the leading proxy advisory firms, whether broadly diversified or highly concentrated. A portfolio-wide focus for voting makes more sense for diversified investors and investors concerned with environmental and social issues.

Companies increasingly are incorporating climate-related metrics into CEO pay packages. The effectiveness of CEO compensation as an accountability mechanism, however, hinges on at least three key factors.

The arena of sustainable investment is evolving globally. For the European Union, the impact is clear: to operate in the EU, companies must elevate their sustainability game and material data disclosures.