Blogs

Weil’s new publication: “The Big Three & ESG: A Guide to BlackRock, State Street & Vanguard Proxy Voting Policies & Guidance on Key ESG Issues” summarizes the expectations of the Big Three across the following topics based on their proxy voting guidelines and additional guidance documents:

• Board diversity
• Director time commitments / overboarding
• Independent board leadership
• Board oversight of ESG risks and opportunities
• Use of ESG disclosure frameworks
• Climate risk-related disclosure
• Human capital management / workforce diversity, equity and inclusion
• Human rights
• Political contributions, lobbying, and trade association memberships
• ESG compensation metrics

The guide includes ESG-related disclosure and practice tips and a summary of 2023 policy changes on most of the foregoing topics. Links to the source documents are included in the References section at the end of the report.

See our recent reports: “State Street: Climate Transition Plan Disclosure”; “State Street Refreshes Portfolio Company Expectations & Guidance”; “State Street Identifies 2023 Stewardship Priorities”; “State Street Releases Updated Voting & Engagement Guidelines”; “BlackRock Releases 2023 Engagement Priorities”; “Vanguard Releases 2023 Proxy Voting Policies”; “BlackRock: Executive Compensation Proxy Voting Guideline Updates”; “BlackRock Releases Updated Stewardship Expectations & Voting Guidelines”; and additional information and resources on our Institutional Investors page.

                          This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!