Proxy advisor Institutional Shareholder Services today said it is gathering views on the “minimum criteria for boards” in overseeing climate risk.

Currently, the proxy advisor may issue adverse voting recommendations for director reelections if board members displayed “demonstrably poor risk oversight of environmental and social issues, including climate change.” It appears with this latest round of questions that ISS is seeking investors’ views on where to set the bar in evaluating boards’ attention to long-term risk.

The questions on climate risk oversight are part of two separate surveys aimed at investors that ISS launched today, asking for policy input on hot-button disclosure issues such as environmental, social and governance factors; racial equity audits; mid-stream adjustments to long-term incentive plans and climate risk.

ISS’s annual benchmark policy survey, which is open to investors and issuers, is used to develop proxy voting recommendation policies, so the questions asked can give directors an idea of policy changes that might be in store for future proxy seasons.

Agenda – ISS Probes Boards’ Climate Risk Oversight