Archive
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New investor campaign targets food companies over emissions
Ceres says it has broader plan to cut emissions across six sectors A new investor campaign has called on North American food companies to take stronger action over climate change as the buy-side focus on reducing emissions shifts beyond the oil and gas sector. The initiative, co-ordinated by sustainability non-profit Ceres, has published a list of 50 ‘high-emitting’ food and agriculture companies alongside an analysis of their Scope 3 emissions and reduction targets. Most of the companies are ‘lagging in key areas that are necessary to increase the ambition of their climate transition action plans,’ Ceres says. For example, the…
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Issuers see drop in volume of securities class action lawsuits, study finds
But Spac-related filings experience a sharp increase, according to data from Cornerstone Research At the mid-year point, the number of securities class action lawsuits filed in federal and state courts is at its lowest level since 2015, according to a report released by Cornerstone Research. During the first six months of this year, plaintiffs filed 112 new class action securities cases across federal and state courts. That is a 25 percent decrease compared with the same period in 2020, when plaintiffs filed 186 cases. The decline is largely caused by the sharp drop in M&A filings. There were only 12…
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Governance Matters: Learn about the Value Reporting Foundation and proxy season takeaways
The latest episode of the Governance Matters podcast looks at ESG reporting standardization and this year’s E&S shareholder proposals ‘One of our top priorities is to drive simplification in the landscape,’ says Janine Guillot, CEO of the Value Reporting Foundation – the organization created by the merger between SASB and the International Integration Reporting Council. In the latest episode of the podcast, Governance Matters host Jeff Cossette catches up with Guillot to discuss her vision for the future of investor-facing ESG reporting and how the Value Reporting Foundation is working with the IFRS Foundation toward standardization. ‘We definitely think the…
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Bill to shorten window of 13F filings progresses to House of Representatives floor
Bill HR 4618 supported by NIRI, Society for Corporate Governance and several other trade associations – Pharmaceutical executives, lobbyists and consultants are working to prevent a global corporate tax rate of 15 percent that was agreed to by 130 countries earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal (paywall) reported. Lawyers for the big pharma firms estimate that the global tax rate could cost the firms hundreds of millions of dollars per year, and come at a time when the industry faces downward pressure on its drug pricing. – Companies should be braced for a tougher stance from the SEC’s enforcement…
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The week in GRC: Aon and Willis Towers Watson call off merger and Activision Blizzard face employee backlash
This week’s governance, compliance and risk-management stories from around the web On July 29 the US House Financial Services Committee voted to advance a new bill that would shorten the 13F filing window and require short-seller disclosures to the floor of the House of Representatives. Bill HR 4618 – also known as the Short Sale Transparency and Market Fairness Act – would require asset managers responsible for more than $100 mn in assets under management to file ownership reports with the SEC no later than 10 days after the end of each month. The current rules, which were enacted in…
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Boards looking beyond traditional experience for new director appointments
Directors from non-traditional backgrounds now account for almost 20 percent of all appointments, according to Diligent The number of companies targeted by an activist during the first half of the year was at its lowest level in more than six years, according to Insightia’s half-year shareholder activism review. Between January 1 and June 30 this year, 518 companies were targeted by activist investors. This is a notable decrease compared to the first half of 2020, when 594 companies were targeted, and is a long way short of the all-time high of 2018, when 710 companies were in the crosshairs. More…
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Shareholder activism down at half year mark
But ESG makes headlines during proxy season, according to data from Insightia The number of newly appointed directors with traditional backgrounds has fallen from 59.4 percent in 2019 to 56 percent in 2021, according to a new report fromDiligent. Traditional backgrounds mean people coming into the director role with experience as a CEO, CFO or COO. Diligent looked at board director appointments at companies in the US, the UK and Australia. The largest fall in new directors coming from traditional backgrounds is in Australia, where there has been a 17 percentage-point drop. In the US, the drop is less stark…
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Aeglea BioTherapeutics names general counsel
Jim Kastenmayer previously worked at Viela Bio Aeglea BioTherapeutics has hired Jim Kastenmayer as general counsel. Kastenmayer previously worked at Viela Bio as general counsel, a role in which he provided strategic guidance and legal advice on issues such as the US Food and Drug Administration approval and launch of Uplizna and the company’s acquisition by Horizon Therapeutics. Before his time with Viela Bio, Kastenmayer held roles of increasing responsibility at AstraZeneca, including global legal director – a role in which he advised on commercialization, market access strategies and collaboration agreements, and handled legal proceedings – in addition to senior…
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GE announces net-zero pledge including Scope 3
Move comes after board-backed shareholder proposal on net-zero report wins approval General Electric (GE) has joined the ranks of major companies committing to be responsible for net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) by 2050, including not just its own operations but also Scope 3 emissions from the use of products it sells. The announcement in the company’s recent sustainability report comes a few months after an overwhelming percentage of GE shareholders – with the backing of the company’s board – voted to approve a proposal seeking a report on its efforts to achieve net-zero GHG emissions. ‘We are particularly aware…
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How a materiality assessment can make you a sustainability leader
Double materiality is the best method yet devised for integrating ESG into a business’ core strategy and corporate reporting, writes Luke Heilbuth In 1981, Kodak, the historic camera maker, enjoyed $10 bn in sales. In 2004, Blockbuster boasted of its 9,000-strong video store footprint. Today, these one-time giants have all but disappeared. The moral of their downfall usually focuses on a failure to predict the competition. But that’s the wrong lesson to draw. When Kodak filed for bankruptcy in 2012, it wasn’t because management didn’t foresee an alternative to film photography: the digital camera was invented by a Kodak engineer…
