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Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) Shareholders Investment

Mintz

Missouri AG Launches Investigation of Proxy Advisory Firms Related to Alleged ESG-Focused Recommendations

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The Missouri Attorney-General, Republican Andrew Bailey, recently announced an investigation into the two principal proxy advisory firms for potential violations of Missouri law “related to their promotion of radical...more

Cooley LLP

BlackRock’s Latest Stewardship Report: 11% of Shareholder Proposals Supported Last Year

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Recently, BlackRock released its “2024 Investment Stewardship Annual Report” – here’s a 25-page executive summary. Here are six lessons learned – although note this is all about last year; not the latest proxy season...more

Vinson & Elkins LLP

Texas Hold ‘Em: New Law Requires Proxy Advisors to Show Their Cards if “Nonpecuniary” Factors Guide Voting Recommendations

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On June 20, 2025, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 2337 (“SB 2337”), a novel regulation that will require significant disclosure obligations for proxy advisors, such as ISS and Glass Lewis, for their voting...more

Cooley LLP

BlackRock and Vanguard Release 2025 Proxy Voting Guidelines

Cooley LLP on

On January 31, 2025, Vanguard issued its proxy voting policy for US portfolio companies, following the publication of BlackRock’s proxy voting guidelines for benchmark policies – US securities in December 2024. The updates...more

Ropes & Gray LLP

Practical Takeaways from Spence v. American Airlines, Inc. for ERISA Plan Fiduciaries

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On January 10, 2025, Judge Reed O’Connor of the Northern District of Texas issued a much-anticipated ruling in Spence v. American Airlines, Inc., which marks the first time that a federal judge has written an on-the-merits...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

HKEx Moves Forward With Diversity, Climate and Sustainability Initiatives

In recent years, investors and other members of the public have been focused on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, and financial regulators globally having been taking initiatives to require companies to meet...more

Proskauer Rose LLP

SFDR on course for change

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The European Commission has published two consultation papers that seek views on the fundamental features and effectiveness of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). The purpose of both the targeted and the...more

J.S. Held

Will Derivative Shareholder Litigation Be the New Firing Line for Ensuring Achievement of Corporate Sustainability Goals?

J.S. Held on

Mitigating climate change impacts is becoming a critical business priority, and the pressure to achieve corporate sustainability objectives is mounting as investment-focused regulations continue to drive companies toward...more

Vinson & Elkins LLP

Balancing ESG Initiatives and Antitrust Risk

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Companies face a difficult choice between taking heed of growing anti-ESG voices while continuing to meet investor and shareholder demands. For several years, companies have come under intense pressure from their boards,...more

Mintz

President Biden Threatens First Veto Over Congressional Nullification of DOL Regulation Enabling Consideration of ESG Factors

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Last fall, the Biden Administration's Department of Labor ("DOL") issued a regulation ("Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights") that, according to a White House press release,...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Executive Compensation: Considerations for UK Companies for the 2023 Voting Season

U.K. institutional investor bodies, including the Investment Association (IA), Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) and Glass, Lewis & Co. (Glass Lewis) recently published...more

Kohrman Jackson & Krantz LLP

Is ESG Good for Your Business?

ESG IN A NUTSHELL - The goal of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) programs is simple: minimize risk, increase shareholder value, and contribute to solving societal problems; but do so in a way that is at the same...more

Kilpatrick

Legal Alert | DOL Opens ESG Door: What Does It Mean for Plan Fiduciaries?

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Department of Labor (“DOL”) Secretary Walsh recently announced final regulations in a blog post titled “Removing Barriers to Considering ESG Factors in Retirement Plan Investments.” While the rules open the door to more...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Preparing for the 2023 Shareholder Proposal Season

On November 15, 2022, Skadden held a webinar titled “Preparing for the 2023 Shareholder Proposal Season.” The panelists were Gianna McCarthy, Director of Corporate Governance for the New York State Common Retirement Fund (NYS...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Five Takeaways from the DOL’s Final Rule on Selecting Retirement Plan Investments

The Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final rule that explicitly allows—but does not require—retirement plan fiduciaries to take climate change and other environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations into...more

Mintz

Department of Labor Enables Consideration of ESG Factors in ERISA Investments

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Yesterday, the Department of Labor "released a final rule under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) . . . [that] clarif[ied] that fiduciaries may consider climate change and other environmental, social, and...more

Moore & Van Allen PLLC

Racial Equity Audits: The New ESG Frontier

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Investors and shareholders are more frequently requesting racial equity audits of large companies to demonstrate their attention to ESG and DEI goals. Moore & Van Allen PLLC attorneys Valecia M. McDowell and Elena F. Mitchell...more

White & Case LLP

Shareholders' General Meetings: The trend of shareholders' viewing ESG as important is steadily increasing

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Forty-eight Japanese companies received shareholder proposals in the June 2021 general meetings (162 proposals in total). This represents a modest decrease compared to last year, when 55 companies received shareholder...more

White & Case LLP

The Rise of Stakeholder Capitalism

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Since at least the 1970s and the publication of Milton Friedman's "shareholder primacy" doctrine, throughout the hostile takeover business culture of the 1980s, and during the more recent linking of executive compensation to...more

White & Case LLP

Q&A: The case for a market-wide approach to sustainable business practices

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Frederick Alexander, Chief Executive Officer and founder of the Shareholder Commons—a nonprofit organization focused on issues and structures for a sustainable, just economy— discusses how systemic changes can help companies...more

Perkins Coie

ESG Claims in an Era of Heightened Regulatory and Litigation Risks

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From investors and shareholders to customers and employees, key stakeholders are increasingly demanding both corporate action and broad-based public disclosure of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. As...more

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