Financial Times (August 3)
“Companies denied votes on a record number of resolutions during this proxy season after US regulators made it harder for shareholders to demand changes related to climate, diversity and labour rights.” As a result, the number of shareholder proposals is down from last year. “ISS-Corporate found that 21 per cent of environmental and social proposals were omitted this year, compared with only 9 per cent last year.” The SEC granted nearly a third more “no-action” requests, which allow companies to omit shareholder proposals from proxy materials.
Tags: Climate, Companies, Denied, Diversity, Environmental, ISS, Labour rights, Proxy season, Regulators, Resolutions, SEC, Shareholder proposals, Social, U.S., Votes
New York Times (August 17)
“The political fight over environmental, social and governance investing continues in corporate America,” though opponents appear to be “making little headway in the boardroom.” During the first six months of 2023, Morningstar “tracked 43 anti-E.S.G. shareholder proposals,” finding that “on average they received only 7 percent support, compared with more than 30 percent across all proposals.”
Tags: 2023, Anti-E.S.G., Boardroom, Environmental, Governance, Headway, Investing, Morningstar, Political fight, Shareholder proposals, Social, U.S.
Institutional Investor (September 23)
“The pushback against environmental, social, and governance investing by red state politicians isn’t yet slowing down many asset managers’ expansions into strategies that have been among the most popular in recent years.” There is “no doubt the anti-ESG movement is gaining traction and could disrupt the industry,” but it’s still “business as usual” for “many global managers targeting investors in the U.S.”
Tags: Anti-ESG movement, Asset managers, Disrupt, Environmental, Governance, Investing, Investors, Politicians, Popular, Pushback, Red state, Social, Strategies, Targeting, Traction
BBC (January 18)
“The United Nations has identified three existential environmental threats – climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution – and concluded that they must be addressed together” through multilateral agreements. Now “more than 100 countries, including the UK” appear to support a dedicated plastics treaty that may be “proposed at the next UN Environment Assembly in February and March.”
Tags: Biodiversity, Climate change, Environmental, Existential, Multilateral agreements, Pollution, Support, Threats, UK, UN
New Yorker (December 23)
As “more established environmental organizations” have adopted “defensive positions, Sunrise has established itself as the dominant influence on the environmental policy of the Democratic Party’s young, progressive wing. Just as the March for Our Lives has changed gun-control activism from a movement of grieving parents to one led by students, Sunrise is part of a generational shift in the environmental movement” as they push for a “Green New Deal.”
Tags: Defensive, Dominant, Environmental, Established, Generational shift, Green New Deal, Gun-control activism, Influence, March for Our Lives, Parents, Students, Sunrise
