In a 1970 New York Times Magazine article, economist Milton Friedman said corporations exist solely to serve their shareholders and must maximize shareholder financial returns to the exclusion of all else. Moreover, he maintained, companies that did adopt "responsible" attitudes would be faced with more binding constraints than companies that did not, rendering them less competitive. This has been the dominant interpretation of capitalism for nearly 50 years.
Read moreA Lighter Chemical Footprint Sought For Consumer Goods, Health Care, Technology Sectors
Materiality of chemicals in products is well established in the Sustainable Accounting Standard Board’s (SASB) standards for Consumer Goods, Health Care, and Technology & Communications. These standards reflect rising demand from consumers and institutional purchasers for safer products and growing evidence of the harmful effects of toxic chemicals, including a peer-reviewed study showing that toxic chemicals cost the world 10 percent of annual global gross domestic product, $11 trillion a year in disease burdens. Yet companies in these sectors have been slow to assess and reduce the chemical footprint of their products.
Read moreRegenerative Agriculture Takes Root Among Food Manufacturers
Food manufacturers have a critical role to play in sustainable food systems. As major purchasers of commodity crops, these companies wield immense power to shift the way food is grown. Some, such as Kellogg and General Mills, are starting to use that power to drive positive change after persistent shareholder pressure.
Read moreProxy Voting Power Can Transform Company Climate Action
The power of proxy voting to transform corporate behavior is real. Through the height of the 2019 proxy voting season, shareholders had the opportunity—and responsibility—to vote on 177 shareholder resolutions addressing environmental and social issues and sustainable governance. Boston Trust Walden takes this fiduciary responsibility seriously, striving to vote on all company and shareholder proposals presented in proxy statements. Our multi-year initiative to hold asset managers we invest in accountable for thoughtfully incorporating long-term ESG considerations in their proxy voting practices remains an engagement priority.
Read more2020 Could Be Pivotal Year For Sustainability Accounting Standards
The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) was formed in 2011 to formulate social and environmental disclosure standards in line with definitions of financial materiality under U.S. securities laws. Financial materiality is a critical feature from the standpoint of mainstream investors, as many of them construe their fiduciary responsibilities to mean that any engagement or voting effort directed toward ESG issues must have monetary benefits for their customers.
Read moreProposed Rules Threaten To Obstruct Pathway To Improved ESG Disclosure And Performance
The Shareholder Rights Group is a group of leading proponents of shareholder proposals that have come together in defense of shareholder proposals under rule 14a-8. After the SEC issued its November 5, 2019 proposed changes to the rule, we examined how the proposed changes would have affected recent proposals and engagements at companies with high profile corporate responsibility challenges: Boeing, Wells Fargo and Chevron.
Read moreThe Attack On Shareholder Rights
The currently pending SEC proposals to regulate proxy advisory firms and to limit shareholder proposals together represent the biggest attack on shareholder rights by the SEC since it was created in 1934.
Read moreShareholder Proposals Provide Crucial Early Warning System For Identifying Risk
For decades, the shareholder proposal process has served as a cost-effective way for corporate management and boards to gain a better understanding of shareholder concerns, particularly those of longer-term shareholders concerned about the sustainability of the companies they own.
Read moreSEC Putting Corporate Interest Over Shareholders And Consumers
The general public has grown steadily more aware of how corporations affect people and the planet. More companies now offer “green” products and services, make their supply chains more transparent, and have sustainability departments, but there is an acute need for still greater corporate oversight.
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