Summary
Although investors and their membership organizations have played an active role in shaping corporate behaviour on ESG issues recently, there is still a lack of comprehensive information about what outcomes can be expected from various investor influence strategies such as dialogues with company management, shareholder proposals and proxy voting, divestment and public policy engagement. Do these investor interactions have a tangible impact on corporate financial and sustainability performance? Which strategies are more effective? What are the main drivers of success? This report answers these questions through a comprehensive review of the literature and a series of in-depth interviews with investors and sustainability practitioners. It identifies the key impacts of investor influence strategies and proposes a framework for understanding the drivers of successful investor engagement efforts. The impact of investor influence strategies. The evidence reveals that investor efforts to engage companies on ESG-related risks and opportunities are associated with better shareholder returns. Research also supports that investor engagement efforts enhance company management of material ESG issues.
Resource available under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/). To access full article click here: https://www.ceres.org/sites/default/files/reports/2019-04/Investor_Influence_report.pdf