Building on the groundbreaking majority vote in support of a proposal on climate lobbying at Chevron’s 2020 annual meeting, investor members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility are announcing agreements reached with five companies on similar proposals requesting a report on if and how the companies’ lobbying activities (direct and through trade associations) align…
Tag: climate change
The Powerful New Financial Argument for Fossil-Fuel Divestment | The New Yorker
In a few months, a small British financial think tank will mark the tenth anniversary of the publication of a landmark research report that helped launch the global fossil-fuel-divestment movement. As that celebration takes place, another seminal report—this one obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from the world’s largest investment house—closes the loop on one…
Executive Compensation and Climate Targets
As environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues increasingly take center-stage, there is more interest from investors and boards in putting climate targets in their compensation policies. “Willis Towers Watson is partnering with Climate Governance initiative in collaboration with the World Economic Forum to survey and interview board directors and Remuneration Committee members to understand how…
More Slippery Fallacies from the Hypocritical WSJ Editorial Board: Proxy Voting Edition
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board is often described as “ultra-right.” If only that were true. Instead, they are “ultra-CEO entrenching.” While they claim to support robust free markets, when it comes time for actual market tests, they always cry out for protection from big, scary providers of capital, even the massive financial institutions they…
Proxy Season 2021
The annual webinar hosted by As You Sow on the upcoming proxy season had to build in some extra time this year. The events and upheavals of 2020 are reflected in the range and impact of this year’s shareholder proposals. As You Sow’s Andrew Behar led off with a strong statement: “If there is a…
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission to create a climate risk unit Wednesday – The Washington Post
VEA Vice Chair Nell Minow is quoted in this Washington Post story about the CFTC, as a part of an administration-wide Biden initiative, looking into climate risk in the financial sector. Nell Minow, vice chair of ValueEdge Advisors, an activist shareholder advisory firm, said “the SEC’s number one job” is to force companies to divulge…
SEC Announces Enforcement Task Force Focused on Climate and ESG Issues
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the creation of a Climate and ESG Task Force in the Division of Enforcement. The task force will be led by Kelly L. Gibson, the Acting Deputy Director of Enforcement, who will oversee a Division-wide effort, with 22 members drawn from the SEC’s headquarters, regional offices, and Enforcement specialized…
Samantha Ross: The Role of Accounting and Auditing in Addressing Climate Change
U.S. federal securities laws are founded on the idea that transparency promotes well-functioning capital markets. This is particularly true when it comes to the urgent goal of reducing global greenhouse gas emissions to prevent the devastating impacts of climate change. For companies, those impacts include both physical risks, including the risk that facilities will be…
Activist Stewardship
Highlights from a new article on hedge fund activism on behalf of long-term shareholder value, from Robert Eccles (Oxford University), Aeisha Mastagni (CalSTRS), and Kirsty Jenkinson (CalSTRS): The time has come for “activist stewardship.” Simply put, this means putting the skills and techniques of activist hedge funds to work where a company’s financial performance is…
