Past Webinars

Majority Action hosted a webinar on June 28, 2024 to analyze 2024 proxy season voting results as related to racial equity and climate. The webinar served to celebrate our wins and the incredible leadership that active owners, elected fiduciaries, and trustees demonstrated this season! Esteemed panelists also discussed what the investment community can do in the coming months to hold the world’s largest asset managers accountable for their misaligned proxy voting behavior, and encourage the largest proxy advisors to strengthen their Benchmark recommendations, in a manner that will support stronger voting outcomes on climate and racial equity next year.

HOST:

Majority Action

Remarks from Honorable Rep. Joyce Beatty

May Day Workers, Advocates and Investors Roundtable

The May Day Roundtable discusses the critical issues that directly impact Walmart workers health, safety, and belonging, the investment risks posed by these issues, and the shareholder proposals seeking to address them. Hear directly from workers, electeds, advocates, and investors about what investors can do to encourage Walmart’s leaders to foster a more equitable business model.

Speakers:

Representative. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), Representative, Ohio’s 3rd District, and former Chair, Congressional Black Caucus, Daniel Coles, 31+ year Walmart Associate (CA), TaNeka Hightower, 6+ year Walmart Associate (TN), Yumi Narita, Executive Director of Corporate Governance, Office of the New York City Comptroller (NYC), Brittney Jenkins, Worker and Network Organizer/Southern Region at National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (COSH), Moderator: Whitney Shepard, Manager of Stakeholder Engagement at Majority Action

In March 2024, Majority Action released Proxy Voting for a 1.5°C World, an annual proxy voting guide, for investors, that recommends holding directors accountable at climate-critical S&P 500 companies in the oil and gas, electric power, financial, and insurance sectors that are failing to adequately mitigate systemic climate risk.

Here is the link to Majority Action’s 2024 climate voting guide:  https://www.proxyvoting.majorityaction.us/

We invite you to join Bryant Sewell, Research Manager and Divya Sundar, Director of Research, for a deep dive into the methodology that Majority Action uses to select companies and recommend votes against directors on the basis of climate performance. We will also discuss why director accountability is a critical mechanism for addressing the systemic risk climate change poses to the portfolios of long-term diversified investors.

For questions, or to engage with us, please contact info@majorityact.org.

Host:

Majority Action

In the United States, the legacy and enduring effects of institutional and structural racism create inequities across social, environmental, and financial systems that adversely impact communities of color to this day. The impact of institutional and structural racism extends beyond directly affected communities and workers of color. Racial inequity is antagonistic to democratic principles and is a drag on U.S. economic growth at large. Failure to address racial inequity can result in lowered portfolio returns for diversified investors. Corporate products, policies, and practices can either reduce these inequities — and help unlock new growth — or they can exacerbate stakeholder harms and the accompanying material risks to long-term shareholders.

Proxy voting is one of the most important tools that shareholders have to mitigate systemic racial inequities. Voting for shareholder proposals that ask companies to conduct a racial equity audit (REA), an essential mechanism for management and oversight of risks associated with systemic racism, is key to mitigating systemic racial inequalities and unlocking economic growth.

In 2023, shareholders continued to back proposals advancing racial justice. However, as a new report from Majority Action demonstrates, the four largest asset managers — BlackRock, Vanguard, Fidelity, and State Street — significantly lowered their support for REA proposals during the 2023 proxy season and lagged behind their peers, undermining these and other critical votes on topics related to racial equity and justice.

With the 2024 proxy season rapidly approaching, Equity in the Boardroom lays out the fiduciary case for investor action on racial justice, evaluates the 2023 proxy voting records of the largest asset managers, and provides a roadmap for asset owners, proxy advisors, and managers alike to ensure their stewardship policies and practices are meeting these critical challenges.

For questions, or to engage with us, please contact info@majorityact.org.

Host:

Majority Action

Over the past few years, shareholder activism and ESG-related shareholder activities to mitigate systemic risks have faced more and more scrutiny. Long-term and diversified investors have been operating in a increasingly hostile, anti-ESG climate, which has caused a chilling effect and undermined investors’ ability to fully and effectively manage critical systemic risks, such as the systemic risk of racial injustice and systemic climate risk, to protect diversified portfolios and grow long-term value in the investor ecosystem.

On December 18, 2023, WSGR published a well-researched and investor-informed memo called “Antitrust Laws and ESG Shareholder Engagement” to clearly define principles from antitrust law and address investors’ questions and concerns about which shareholder activities are in violation of those laws and which are not. WSGR engaged investors in conversations around their shareholder and ESG-related activities in order to best address the concerns that investors have in this heightened, anti-ESG political climate.

Here is the link to the memo: https://www.wsgr.com/en/insights/antitrust-laws-and-esg-shareholder-engagement.html

Please join two partners in the Antitrust and Competition practice of WSGR, Jindrich Kloub and Brent Snyder, for a virtual discussion about their memo.

For questions, or to engage with us, please contact info@majorityact.org.

Co-hosts:

Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) and Majority Action

In the hottest year on record, asset owners are becoming increasingly active in protecting their portfolios against the escalating threat of climate risk. But where do their managers and proxy advisors stand?

The fifth annual edition of Majority Action's Climate in the Boardroom report analyzes the track record of the 16 biggest global asset managers and (new this year) the two major proxy advisors on a powerful proxy voting tool for mitigating climate risk -- voting to hold directors accountable at misaligned portfolio companies.

Please watch to learn more about the report and learn what clients can do to make a difference on proxy voting outcomes to mitigate systemic climate risk.

Climate in the Boardroom 2023 (located at majorityaction.org) analyzes the 2023 proxy voting track records and policies of the world’s 16 largest asset managers, as well as proxy advisors Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis. Asset manager proxy votes and proxy advisor recommendations were evaluated at those companies most misaligned with the Climate Action 100+ Net Zero Benchmark indicators in the energy and utilities sectors, plus financial services companies with worst-in-class emissions reduction targets and fossil fuel exclusion policies.

For questions, or to engage with us, please contact info@majorityact.org.

Host

Majority Action

A major theme of the 2023 proxy season is active owners becoming active clients: communicating their concerns to asset managers regarding safeguarding the value of investment portfolios by voting to mitigate systemic risk, including climate change and racial inequity. We are in a moment that calls for a high level of active client leadership.

This 30-minute webinar for asset owners presents two key new developments:

1. To support active clients, ICCR has written to 8 major investment managers, and built a set of easy-to-use letters that clients can send to their relationship managers and top management at major asset management firms. Tim Smith of ICCR will explain how asset owners can utilize this important new tool.

2. In a troubling new development, State Street Global Advisors’ (SSGA) 2023 proxy voting guidelines represent a material step backwards on climate. Jason Opeña Disterhoft, who authored Majority Action’s analysis of SSGA’s new policy, will outline the key takeaways and set out the powerful role that asset owners can play to course-correct.

Two short presentations will be followed by audience Q&A. For questions, or to engage with us, please contact info@majorityact.org.

Co-hosts:

Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) and Majority Action

This webinar is about escalation pathways: what they are, how to adopt and implement them, and who is leading among investors in this field.

• Tim Smith, Lead Investment Stewardship Manager on Climate Change at Norges Bank Investment Management.

For questions, or to engage with us, please contact info@majorityact.org.

Co-hosts:

Majority Action, ShareAction, Follow This, Reclaim Finance, Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR), and Sunrise Project

Systemic racial inequities in income and wealth not only harm people and communities of color, they also drag down US economic growth overall, inevitably resulting in lowered portfolio returns for diversified investors. Corporate products, policies, and practices can either reduce these inequities — and help unlock new growth — or exacerbate stakeholder harms and material risks to long-term shareholders.

In 2022, shareholders backed proposals advancing racial justice — like racial equity audits, an essential mechanism for management and oversight of risks associated with systemic racism — at S&P 500 corporations at unprecedented levels, and investor focus on this area is expected to become even stronger in 2023.

However, as a new joint report from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and Majority Action demonstrates, the four largest asset managers — BlackRock, Vanguard, Fidelity, and State Street — significantly lagged their peers in supporting racial equity audits, undermining these and other critical votes on topics related to racial equity and justice. With the 2023 proxy season rapidly approaching, Equity in the Boardroom: How Asset Manager Voting Shaped Corporate Action on Racial Justice in 2022 lays out the fiduciary case for investor action on racial justice, evaluates the 2022 proxy voting records of the 20 largest asset managers, and provides a roadmap for asset owners and managers alike on how to ensure their stewardship policies and practices are meeting these critical challenges.

Co-hosts:

SEIU and Majority Action