In 2021, we voted at nearly 21,000 meetings on over 190,000 management and shareholder proposals.
Download the 2021 Asset Stewardship Report and the report snapshot.
In 2021, we believed it was more urgent than ever before to respond to growing climate risk. The latest UN IPCC report stressed the need for rapid, large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the “unequivocal” science behind climate change. Further, the pandemic highlighted the impact of systemic risks on global financial markets and reaffirmed the importance of prioritising such threats, including climate change, via our stewardship program. With this, we significantly increased our climate engagements in 2021 to 254, almost double that of 2020.
Engagement Topics
We continue to lead the market with our Fearless Girl campaign and action behind gender diversity on corporate boards. Since the launch of our campaign in 2017, 948 companies (more than 60%) of the 1,548 companies we called on have added at least one woman director.* In 2021, we further increased our focus on social equity, instituting new guidance on Racial and Ethnic Diversity Disclosure and helping to drive improved disclosure on the racial and ethnic composition of boards.
Engagement Topics
During the 2021 proxy season, we started taking action against board members at companies in the S&P 500, FTSE 350, ASX 100, TOPIX 100, DAX30, and CAC 40 indices that were laggards based on their R-Factor scores and could not articulate how they planned to improve their score. R-Factor is our proprietary ESG scoring system that measures the performance of a company’s business operations andgovernance as it relates to financially material and industry-specific ESG risk factors.
Engagement Topics
View all of our voting guidelines and expectations.
Our Asset Stewardship program is focused on identifying issues that impact long-term sustainability of our portfolio companies. Across the world, we’re using our voice and our vote to drive change.