Shareholder scrutiny of corporate offsetting strategies is growing as the voluntary carbon market (VCM) grows, with projections it may be worth $50 billion annually by 2030. Carbon offset advocates believe the VCM incentivizes critical investments in mitigation and adaptation, even as global efforts fail to deliver on emission reduction targets. Yet companies can face reputational and litigation risks for participating in the VCM given credibility questions. Companies can reduce the risks associated with purchasing voluntary credits by aligning their strategies with best practices and procuring third-party verified high-quality credits.
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 moreA Framework for Evaluating Goals and Risks of Corporate Political Spending
Companies today face a high-risk landscape for their political spending and its impact. The crisis that confronts U.S. democracy and the gridlock blocking action on a broad range of issues from climate change to voting, women’s reproductive rights, guns and even democracy itself has put front and center the role of company political spending in contributing to the breakdown.
Read moreRailroad Workers' Lack of Paid Sick Leave Puts Employees, Public and Investors at Risk
Impact Shares considers paid sick leave (PSL) to represent an important human capital investment critical to investors, as well as a racial and gender equity concern. Filing a shareholder proposal at Norfolk Southern railways requesting that the company adopt a PSL policy as a standard benefit was the first step in leveraging our position as an ETF issuer representing leading social and environmental advocacy organizations.
Read moreIllegally Captured Primates Used in Animal Testing Pose Health and Investor Risks
Animal testing behemoth Charles River Laboratories is one of the largest importers of monkeys into the U.S., each year bringing in thousands of monkeys – mostly long-tailed macaques – from Southeast Asia and Mauritius. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has classified long-tailed macaques as “endangered,” identifying the U.S. experimentation industry as a major driver pushing these monkeys toward extinction.
Read moreIncrease in EEO-1 Data Reporting Shows Positive Link Between Diversity and Financial Performance
A report released by As You Sow and Whistle Stop Capital in November 2022 assessed the data from 277 EEO-1 reports, looking at the link between workforce diversity and corporate financial performance. In line with our hypothesis and others’ previous research, the analysis found that financial metrics, like return on equity and net profit, were associated with higher levels of diversity in management.
Read moreShareholders and Local Communities Join to Demand Racial and Environmental Justice
Often, companies have no “business-case rationale” to listen to the communities negatively affected by their operations and no incentives to act. As shareholders, we have legal standing to engage the executives and boards of these public companies.
Read moreMeta Fails to Address Online Child Safety Risks
The internet was not developed with children in mind. There is no better example of this than Meta, which intended its platforms as a place where people could connect with friends and family. Instead, they have become a dangerous playground for children.
Read moreEnding Child Labor in Cocoa Production
In 2023, the chocolate industry is still not free from child labor. Millions of children are being robbed of their childhood and right to education while working on farms to meet corporate demand for cheaply sourced cocoa. Since this is an industry-wide issue, corporations tend to place the onus on the industry at large rather than assume liability individually.
Read moreCompanies Taking a Closer Look at How Racial Inequity Affects Their Workers, Customers and Shareholders
The third anniversary of the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police officers is fast approaching. We are reminded of the work we began nearly three years ago by filing Racial Equity Audit (REA) shareholder proposals and how much work remains. The police killings of Black people across the U.S. continue to galvanize the movement for racial justice, and corporations continue to be held accountable socially and legally for their role in furthering the economic and political repression of nonwhite communities.
Read moreESG Triggers the Right
Republican politicians are placing ESG on the list of grievances and conspiracies they serve up to their base as they try to turn ESG into the next critical race theory (CRT). One activist who was instrumental in convincing the Republican base that CRT is an ominous threat to their existence is heavily involved in the anti-ESG effort.
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