SfC launches its engagement report 2023

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Joint shareholder engagement with more than 130 companies and institutions. Focus on climate and environment, ESG policies, and human and worker rights.

 

Today, SfC–Shareholders for Change released its Engagement Report for 2023. 
In 2023, the 17 members of the network, with a total of over €35bn AUM, jointly engaged 128 companies and three institutions, most of them in Europe, filing resolutions and voting at annual general meetings (AGMs) or asking questions in conference calls, meetings and via mail.

«Every single engagement story is very different from the others, precisely because each of our members adopts different strategies. As we like to say: SfC is an engagement craft shop, not a large factory. We specialise in long-term collaborative dialogue with companies but don’t disdain confrontation, if necessary», says Ugo Biggeri, president of SfC.

Most questions were on climate and environment issues, ESG policies, and human and worker rights. 48% of engagement initiatives are still ongoing, while 31% were completed. In 63% of cases, companies and institutions were cooperative, committing to implementing what we demanded or disclosing requested information. In 17% of cases they refused to enter a dialogue with our members.

Also in 2023 SfC introduced new ‘orphan issues’ in its agenda, which are still marginal in investor engagement strategies. For instance, Swiss member Ethius Invest has started to engage ESG rating companies to double check their assessments regarding animal rights exclusionary criteria. 

Besides engaging directly with companies, some Shareholders for Change members also engage asset managers. In 2023, 17 asset managers were engaged in 19 different cases, mainly in the USA and Germany. The most recurring issues for this form of engagement were ESG policy (37%) Governance/remuneration (26%), and weapons (21%). 

In the 2023 Engagement Report, you will find also SfC’s lobbying activities, as the Appeal against AGMs behind closed doors or virtual-only, our Statement on credible engagement to foster sustainable transformation and our letter asking for a stronger corporate due diligence in Switzerland.
 
Download the report HERE.