
Leadership comes from the top and – amid rising global urgency surrounding environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues – there is an obligation for corporate leaders to ensure that long-term value creation goes hand in hand with sustainability.
The shift in priorities is reflected by shareholder activism trends with endorsements for ESG-related shareholder proposals by large institutional investors, and proxy voting against the re-election of directors who lack ESG competence, especially on climate governance.
Earlier this year, BlackRock Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink sent a letter to fellow CEOs advocating stakeholder capitalism, stating that businesses should serve the interests of their divergent stakeholders rather than just shareholders.
As a result, BlackRock announced it would give a select group of its institutional clients, including pension funds that collectively support 60 million people, the option to participate in the proxy voting process.