The Politics of Institutional Shareholder Voting: Transparency Before Reform

By Isabel Verkes August 13, 2020 by renholding

On July 22, the SEC finalized a sweeping rule change to enhance the transparency around the role of proxy advisers. This follows an earlier proposal to reform the process for including shareholder proposals in a company’s proxy statement.^[1] These …

Skadden Reviews ESG for First Half of 2020

By Scott C. Hopkins, Simon Toms, Adam M. Howard and Patrick Tsitsaros August 10, 2020 by renholding

Interest in the environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies of companies and their impact on the wider community has continued to increase amongst institutional investors, retail shareholders and the media during the first half of 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic and …

Wachtell Lipton Puts a Spotlight on Boards

By Martin Lipton and Carmen X.W. Lu July 23, 2020 by renholding

The ever-evolving challenges facing corporate boards prompt periodic updates to a snapshot of what is expected from the board of directors of a public company—not just the legal rules, or the principles published by institutional investors and various corporate and …

Davis Polk Discusses ESG Disclosure Frameworks

By Betty Moy Huber, Joseph Hall and Alexandra Munson July 22, 2020 by renholding

Updates in the past two months to voluntary ESG disclosure frameworks raise questions for companies about these overlapping and arguably competing standards.

GRI Launches Sector-Specific Disclosure Framework

On July 8, 2020, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) published an initial draft…

SEC Commissioner Advocates ESG Disclosure for Asset Managers, Not Issuers

By Elad L. Roisman July 10, 2020 by renholding

Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you, Keir [Gumbs], for the kind introduction, and thank you to the Society for Corporate Governance for the invitation to speak today. I had been looking forward to seeing everyone in Colorado this week but, of

…

Wachtell Lipton Offers Thoughts for Boards of Directors in 2020

By Martin Lipton, Steven A. Rosenblum, William Savitt, Karessa L. Cain, Hannah Clark and Bita Assad July 8, 2020 by renholding

The past six months have been marked by a profound upheaval that has accelerated the growing focus on both the purpose of the corporation and the role of the board in overseeing and leading the corporation in ways that promote …

Environmental and Social Voting at the Big Three

By Caleb N. Griffin June 16, 2020 by renholding

Environmental and social (E&S) issues are an increasingly publicized component of investment management. Large fund families, including the “Big Three” of Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street, market themselves as advocates for the environment, women, workers in developing countries, and other …

Wachtell Lipton Discusses Using ESG Tools to Help Combat Systemic Racism and Injustice

By Adam O. Emmerich, David M. Silk, Sabastian V. Niles, Elina Tetelbaum and Carmen X.W. Lu June 16, 2020 by renholding

Events of recent weeks and months have starkly illuminated the effects of systemic racism and injustice on Black Americans, including threats to physical safety, psychological trauma and economic disparity. CEOs worldwide and across industries have spoken out, expressing their horror …

Stakeholders Will Guide Companies Out of This Crisis – and the Next One, Too

By Stavros Gadinis and Amelia Miazad June 8, 2020 by renholding

Companies will not survive Covid-19 unless they communicate with their stakeholders. As the world around them transforms, corporate leaders must welcome input from those on the front lines of corporate activity – primarily employees and consumers, but also local communities, …

Why the U.S. Is Lagging on ESG Disclosure Reform

By Virginia Harper Ho June 2, 2020 by renholding

Over the past five years, international organizations ranging from the United Nations and the G20 to the World Economic Forum and the International Organization of Securities Commissioners (IOSCO) have advocated expanding environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) or “non-financial” reporting by …

Chairman Clayton Speaks to SEC’s Asset Management Advisory Committee

By Jay Clayton May 28, 2020 by renholding

I look forward to hearing the Committee’s insights into the effects of the pandemic on the asset management industry and, in particular, our long-term Main Street investors.[1] An essential component of our national response to, and recovery from, COVID-19

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Wachtell Lipton on the Purpose of the Corporation

By Martin Lipton, Steven A. Rosenblum, William Savitt and Karessa L. Cain May 27, 2020 by renholding

The growing view that corporations should take into account environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues in running their businesses, and resistance from those who believe that companies should be managed solely to maximize share price, has intensified the focus on …

How Corporate and Securities Laws Affect Social Responsibility and Corporate Purpose

By Thomas Lee Hazen May 8, 2020 by renholding

For nearly 90 years, scholars have debated whether the sole purpose of the business corporation is to maximize profits. This debate has been reframed over the past 50 years and now seems to have settled on a middle ground: Corporate …

Changing Expectations for Financial Disclosure of Climate-Related Information

By Hana V. Vizcarra May 1, 2020 by renholding

In early 2020, State Street Global Advisors, BlackRock, and other investment firms announced their plans for persuading companies to address financially-material environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. The high-profile announcements followed moves in recent years by Wellington Management, CalPERS, and …

Nuveen Previews 2020 Proxy Season: Environmental and Social Practices

By Nuveen Responsible Investing Team May 1, 2020 by renholding

Companies recognize the importance of environmental and social (E&S) factors and are giving consideration to a broader group of stakeholders to help mitigate risk. However, new regulations bring uncertainty to the future of environmental, social and governance (ESG) proposals.

The …

Should Corporations Have a Purpose?

By Jill E. Fisch and Steven Davidoff Solomon April 29, 2020 by renholding

Purpose is currently one of the hottest topics in corporate governance. Commentators are demanding not only that corporations formally articulate a purpose, but that the corporate purpose embrace the interests of non-shareholder stakeholders or society more generally. In August 2019, …

How Committed Are Active-Investment Managers to ESG?

By Soohun Kim and Aaron S. Yoon April 21, 2020 by renholding

Using environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors to evaluate investments in companies has in recent years become increasingly popular and controversial. One of the most notable and influential initiatives for ESG investing is the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment …

Wachtell Lipton Discusses UK and EU Regulators’ Latest Moves on ESG

By David M. Silk, David A. Katz, Sabastian V. Niles, Carmen X. W. Lu and Ram Sachs April 16, 2020 by renholding

Amid the ongoing push for standardized, comparable and decision-useful ESG disclosures, regulators in the United Kingdom and the European Union have proposed additional disclosures and benchmarks to promote sustainable economic activity. The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published …

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