Seminar on Shareholder Activism and Sustainability

In their introduction to the topic, Tom and Lucia discussed the incentives and tools available to shareholders to engage on sustainability matters. They raised several key questions, including: How does shareholder activism actually work in the context of sustainability? What motivates shareholders to engage on sustainability topics? And how much influence do they truly have over corporate policy in jurisdictions such as Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK, and the US?

Their introduction was followed by a lively discussion with speakers Rients Abma (Eumedion), Thierry L’Homme (Linklaters), Vincent Van Bueren (Gimv), and Florence Bindelle (EuropeanIssuers), moderated by Marieke Wyckaert (KU Leuven).

Key takeaways from the seminar included:

• Private engagement by institutional investors can lead to meaningful changes in a company’s sustainability policy.
• In Belgium, shareholder activism on sustainability does not (yet?) typically take the form of shareholder proposals, but rather questions at general meetings, (public) letters to the board, and private engagements.
• There are strong arguments in favour of an (advisory) annual vote on a company’s sustainability report as an accountability tool for sustainability performance; however, unilateral implementation without EU-wide harmonisation may pose competitiveness concerns (the “gold-plating” issue).
• Companies and investors continue their efforts on sustainability where it enhances long-term performance, even if they may communicate these efforts differently than in the past.

Together with ICGI intern Erin Behlic, Tom and Lucia also published a seminar-related blog post outlining the above-mentioned topics and offering some preliminary insights. For those who could not join the seminar, the blog post provides an accessible overview of the main themes discussed.

Read the blog post here.