Tag: ESG initiatives
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No ESG-related shareholder proposals pass in 2026 proxy season
What’s the story? As of May 31, shareholders did not approve any proposals either in favor of or opposition to ESG-related topics during the 2026 proxy season. That’s according to a report summarizing the 2026 shareholder season published by the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance which identified 135 ESG-related proposals that shareholders voted…
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Texas, Nebraska, Iowa, West Virginia sue ISS over ESG disclosures
Four Republican state attorneys general filed lawsuits on May 20, 2026, against Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), accusing the proxy advisory firm of violating state consumer protection laws by failing to disclose that its voting recommendations prioritize environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies over clients' financial interests. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), Nebraska Attorney General…
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ESG shareholder proposals drop 47% in 2026 proxy season
According to As You Sow, a shareholder advocacy nonprofit, in its 2026 Proxy Preview report, shareholders filed 184 ESG proposals at U.S. shareholder meetings as of March 17, 2026. That is down 47% from 355 proposals filed at the same point in 2025. Shareholders use proxy proposals to ask companies to adopt specific policies or…
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London Stock Exchange Group launches new ESG scores
On March 9, 2026, The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) announced that it launched LSEG Sustainability Ratings and Data, a new suite of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores and sustainability analytics to help investors evaluate how companies manage material risks and opportunities. The company said the system is designed to support investment decisions, benchmarking,…
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SEC reviews ESG disclosure rule
On Feb. 11, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Paul Atkins said in testimony before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee that the agency is reviewing regulations adopted during the Biden administration to determine whether those rules should be revised or rescinded. Atkins identified the 2023 amendments to the Investment Company Names rule (Names rule)…
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President Trump expands oversight of proxy advisors
On Dec. 11, President Donald Trump (R) issued an executive order increasing federal scrutiny of the two largest proxy advisory services, Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS). The executive order, “Protecting American Investors from Foreign-Owned and Politically-Motivated Proxy Advisors”, directs the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission to expand oversight of and review…
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Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative relaunches without net-zero deadline
The Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative announced on Oct. 30, 2025, that it will resume operations after pausing earlier this year to review its climate commitments. The investor coalition—which once included more than 325 firms managing over $57 trillion—said it has deleted language in its commitment statement that required members to aim for net-zero greenhouse-gas…
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Texas AG launches investigation of proxy advisors
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) announced his office is investigating Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis, the two largest proxy advisory firms, for “potentially misleading institutional investors and public companies by issuing voting recommendations that advance radical political agendas.” The announcement followed a U.S. district court injunction pausing the state’s new law regulating…
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UBS quits NZBA
UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank, announced Thursday it is leaving the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), joining several recent global departures from the coalition. UBS was a founding member of the NZBA and is the third major bank to leave in as many weeks. The departures could limit the alliance’s ability to set shared targets and monitor…
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ESG opponents argue BlackRock still boycotts Texas energy
Consumers’ Research (CR), a nonprofit critical of ESG investing, and the American Energy Institute (AEI), an energy advocacy group, released a report arguing BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, is still boycotting Texas energy. The report contradicts BlackRock’s claims and those made by former Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar (R), who earlier this summer removed the…