SEC, ESG, and Investors

In the U.S. economy, corporations are owned by investors. Investors aren’t limited to the rich and famous; anyone with a pension is also an investor. As many in the climate movement know, many pensions holding trillions of dollars collectively still invest in fossil fuel companies and the banks, asset managers, and insurance companies that finance them.

“Shares” represent pieces of ownership in a corporation. Investors exchange capital (money) in return for these units. Common shares enable voting rights and possible earnings (profits). Securities are a more general category and defined as “fungible and tradable financial instruments used to raise capital in public and private markets.” “There are primarily three types of securities: equity—which provides ownership rights to holders; debt—essentially loans repaid with periodic payments; and hybrids—which combine aspects of debt and equity. Public sales of securities in the U.S. are regulated by the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC).” The SEC “promotes full public disclosure, protects investors against fraudulent and manipulative practices in the market, and monitors corporate takeover actions in the United States.”

Check out Sierra Club’s basic primer on the SEC and how sustainable investing rules would help people cut polluting companies from their retirement funds.

Resources

Building a Prosperous Economy for All: How Investors Can Address Racial Injustice and Unleash Economic Growth

This webinar explored the role of equity in the board room and how Asset Manager voting can shape corporate action on racial justice. With the threat of climate change impacting communities of color in disproportionate amounts, this webinar convened NYC Comptroller Brad Lander, SEIU Racial Justice Center’s James Rucker and Majority Action’s Eli Kasargod-Staub to discuss climate commitments that corporations can work towards with a racial justice lens.

Webinar Recording Here

ICCR’s 2023 Proxy Resolutions and Voting Guide Launch Webinar

This webinar discussed updates on the politicization of of the ESG movement and provided key updates to inform stakeholders about progress from the C-Suite on meeting climate commitments outlined in the Paris Agreement. Speakers also went through the newly released 2023 Proxy Resolutions and Voting Guide and various impacts on human rights of tech workers, highlighting the investor case for supporting unionization in workplaces, freedom of association, this year’s resolutions filed with U.S. banks on their financing of GHG emissions driving climate change.

Webinar Recording Here

Canada’s pensions have a climate problem: How the BC Teachers Federation can protect pensions and the planet

The fight for divestment is a global one and during this webinar, stakeholders from across the British Columbia Teachers Federation [BCTF] convened to discuss the actions that the Federation is doing to protect teacher pensions and the planet.

WEBINAR RECORDING HERE

Attacks on Workers’ Pensions –
Join the Fight

Right-wing actors have been leading the fight against ESG in many state legislatures. The heads of major unions convened this webinar to unpack how worker pensions are being utilized to fund the climate crisis and how the public can support the effort for pension divestment with the help of asset managers to redirect worker pension funds into saving our planet and ensuring that we can meet our climate commitments.

WEBINAR RECORDING HERE

Vanguard’s Empty Promises: How Vanguard Funds Harm and Fuels Extractive Industry

Read the report from ACRE that critiques Vanguard’s – the world’s second largest asset manager, with over $8 trillion in assets under management – governance practices and charitable giving vehicles ad highlights how Vanguard’s loose definitions of social justice and inadequate screening tools allow capital to be deployed to extractive industries via funds touted as both environmentally and socially responsible.

READ THE REPORT

Social Cost and Material Loss: The Dakota Access Pipeline

First Peoples Worldwide conducted a case study: Social Costs, Material Loss: The Dakota Access Pipeline to quantify the numerous costs that companies, financial institutions, and investors faced by failing to account for the human rights of indigenous peoples.

read case study