ESG & DE&I

Takeaways from the Governance Intelligence and IR Magazine ESG Integration Forum – Europe, held in London Starbucks Corporation is asking the SEC for the go-ahead to exclude a shareholder proposal about cage-free eggs in China and Japan from its next proxy statement. The coffee company’s AGM is scheduled for March 12, 2025. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has filed the resolution, which asks the company to ‘disclose details of its implementation plans and timelines for reaching its cage-free egg commitment in China and Japan.’ In its supporting statement the society quotes Starbucks’ Form 10Ks as stating ‘the…

This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web – Reuters (paywall) reported that Shell won an appeal against a landmark ruling that required the oil company to accelerate carbon reduction efforts. The ruling is a blow to campaigners who have turned to legal channels to pursue climate action. The appeals court in The Hague said Shell had a responsibility to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to protect people from global warming. But it dismissed the 2021 ruling that ordered Shell to cut its absolute carbon emissions by 45 percent by 2030 compared to 2019 levels, including those caused…

Academic Dr George Skiadopoulos presents the latest research into how investors sway companies Discover Financial Services has hired Kelly Welsh as interim chief legal officer (CLO), general counsel and head of corporate and public affairs. Welsh will succeed Hope Mehlman, who is leaving Discover at the end of November to become CLO and corporate affairs officer with Ally Financial. According to his LinkedIn profile, Welsh has most recently been managing director at Crab Tree Advisory. Earlier in his career he was general counsel with the US Department of Commerce, having previously spent 14 years with Northern Trust Corporation as executive…

This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web – CNBC reported that 23andMe appointed three new independent directors to its board, a month after all seven of its previous directors resigned. The new board members are Andre Fernandez, the former CFO of WeWork; Jim Frankola, the former CFO of Cloudera; and Mark Jensen, a tech adviser and former managing partner at Deloitte, according to a release. The only other board member is 23andMe’s co-founder and CEO Anne Wojcicki. Fernandez, Frankola and Jensen will all sit on the board’s audit committee and compensation committee, the company said. Jensen…

Company is seeking to omit resolution from its 2025 AGM As global corporate reporting requirements continue to expand, companies are under growing pressure to deliver disclosures that meet higher standards of reliability, transparency and detail. The upcoming Corporate Reporting Forum, taking place in New York City on November 6, 2024, aims to help reporting companies enhance their practices to provide greater strategic value. By improving the quality of corporate disclosures, we hope to support more informed decision-making and better meet the needs of public company stakeholders. One of the most anticipated sessions of the day will examine the critical role…

Resolution asked for report on ‘quantitative median and adjusted pay gaps across race and gender’ Around three in 10 investor votes last week backed a proposal seeking disclosure on pay equity at Procter & Gamble (P&G). The proposal, filed by Arjuna Capital, asked the company to report ‘on both quantitative median and adjusted pay gaps across race and gender, including associated policy, reputational, competitive and operational risks, and risks related to recruiting and retaining diverse talent.’ It defines racial/gender pay gaps as the difference between non-minority and minority/male and female median earnings expressed as a percentage of non-minority/male earnings. In…

Resolution targets efforts to lower the use of pesticides in food production More than a quarter of votes cast at General Mills’ recent AGM backed a resolution seeking more information about how the maker of foods ranging from Cheerios and Chex Mix to Häagen-Dazs and Yoplait is progressing with efforts to cut the use of harmful chemicals. The resolution, which was brought by shareholder advocacy group As You Sow, asks that General Mills disclose the reduction of pesticides achieved by adopting its regenerative agriculture practices. ‘Industrial agriculture’s reliance on conventional farming practices – including monocropping, tillage and substantial synthetic pesticide…

This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web – Reuters (paywall) reported that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) proposed that banks enhance recordkeeping requirements for accounts held by fintech companies on behalf of their customers. The move follows the collapse of bank-fintech middleman Synapse Financial Technologies earlier this year, which led to the freezing of thousands of accounts. The new requirements would ensure consumers have timely access to their funds, even in the absence of a bank’s failure, the FDIC said. Under the proposal, banks that work with fintech companies would need to identify the beneficial…

‘We are disappointed by the firm’s track record and lack of perseverance in reaching its self-imposed sustainability objectives,’ proponent argues Around a quarter of votes cast at Nike’s recent AGM backed a shareholder proposal seeking a look into the company’s ability – or inability – to meet its sustainability goals. The proposal was filed by the Trium Sustainable Innovators fund of UK-based ESG fund firm Trium Capital. Specifically, it asks Nike’s board to prepare a public report including: ‘An analysis of [the company’s] failure to meet its self-imposed quantitative sustainability targets for [fiscal years 2015-2020], now discontinued, and whether reinstating…

Almost all asset owners and managers say polarization of ESG in the US has failed to impact their investment strategy ESG isn’t dead, it’s just gone mainstream. That’s one of the key observations from a new semi-annual survey of Canadian institutional investors, which points to a focus that goes beyond data gathering and on to impact. This is being driven, in part, by an uptick in the number of companies conducting double-materiality assessments and indications from the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Canada that the country will have a transition taxonomy by December 31, 2024. That’s according to the…