It’s a critical moment for responsible investment and corporate accountability. Recent developments in both the United States and Europe threaten the progress we have made in advancing sustainability standards and shareholder rights, posing serious risks to both financial stability and long-term value creation. In the United States shareholder rights might be significantly restricted by recent initiatives from some legislative bodies. In Europe, newly proposed significant revisions to key[…]
In an increasingly unstable international context, where not a day goes by without the media reporting new military escalations — including increasingly explicit nuclear threats — the growing spread of conflicts highlights how urgent it is to affirm peace not only as an ethical and political value, but as a fundamental human right that must be recognized, protected[…]
On April 24, SfC – Fondazione Finanza Etica (FFE), an Italian member of Shareholders for Change (SfC), opened its 2024 critical shareholding season by speaking at the annual general meeting (AGM) of insurance giant Generali in Trieste. Representing also other SfC-affiliated investors — including ABS, Ecofi, FormaFutura, fair-finance, and Sanso — the foundation used the occasion to continue pressing Generali on[…]
Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow The importance of proxy voting continues to grow, particularly in light of increasing shareholder investment in mutual funds, both actively and passively managed, in the US and the EU. A key issue is the influence of proxy advisory firms, which guide institutional investors’ voting decisions. These firms have a[…]
On 31 January, Italian SfC member Fondazione Finanza Etica attended the annual general meeting of ThyssenKrupp as a representative of Shareholders for Change and together with the Dachverband der Kritischen Aktionärinnen und Aktionäre, the German critical shareholders association. ThyssenKrupp has always opposed the introduction of stricter internal assessments on arms exports and has never provided clear information to rule out[…]
In March 2023, Shareholders for Change alongside other 20 Swiss and international institutional investors sent a co-signed letter on Human Rights and Environmental due diligence to members of the Swiss Parliament. Our request was to adopt a comprehensive human rights and environmental due diligence legislation in Switzerland just like Germany did at the beginning of the year with[…]
In recent weeks, our Italian member Fondazione Finanza Etica and the Secretariat of Shareholders for Change collaborated on the drafting of the ‘Principles for Transition Investing’, promoted by the organisation Better Finance (The European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users). The ‘Principles’ are part of a broader report, ‘Shareholder Engagement and Transition of Capital Flows’, published[…]
In 2024, the 20 members of the network, with a total of over €48bn AUM, jointly engaged 172 companies and one institution, most of them in Europe, filing resolutions and voting at annual general meetings (AGMs) or asking questions in conference calls, meetings and via mail. Most questions were on climate and environment issues, ESG[…]
At the end of November, the EU Defence Industrial Investment Forum, “Investing in the EU’s defence & security: a new political priority”, hosted by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space (DG DEFIS), took place in Brussels and online. The aim was to discuss ‘how ESG barriers hinder the financing of defence companies and how these[…]
Ökoworld, an asset manager pioneer in the field of sustainable investment, joined SfC in December 2024. By joining Shareholders for Change, ÖKOWORLD is further expanding its engagement activities. ‘It carries more weight when 20 institutional investors act together and fight for positive change in companies,’ says the company in a press release. ‘We want to[…]