The Voting & Engagement Report 2023 provides interesting insights into our voting behavior and our corporate dialogues over the past year. In terms of engagement in particular, there are some new companies with which we are actively engaging to promote greater sustainability.
Article on tag "Voting"
Engagement and voting – worth our while?
Dialogue with management and the active exercise of voting rights are intended to encourage companies to operate in a more environmentally friendly and socially responsible manner – engagement & voting is the keyword. But what are the benefits of these measures? An overview of scientific studies on this topic provides interesting results.
Annual General Meetings (AGMs) 2024: dispute about shareholder rights
We also supported numerous shareholder motions during this year’s Annual General Meeting season. However, there were also occasional disagreements regarding motions and fundamental shareholder rights.
Anti-ESG? Investors positioning themselves
Although environmental and social issues dominated the shareholder resolutions in this year’s voting season, their approval by investors declined. There are many reasons for this. In any case, Erste AM is increasing its support for environmental and social motions.
Voting – Impacting companies through voting rights?
By submitting shareholder proposals at annual general meetings and exercising voting rights, investors can lobby companies to take measures in the direction of social responsibility, environmental protection or better transparency. In the previous year, Erste AM exercised its voting rights at 495 companies. In the blog post, we show what this entails using three examples.
Greenwashing through lobbying?
In recent years, environmental and social issues were voted on at the annual general meetings of global companies. Increasingly, the focus was on more transparency regarding lobbying and political contributions.
“Every vote counts!”
Investors can make positive and lasting changes by actively participating in general meetings. As demonstrated in the last US presidential election, every single vote counts. Environmental and social issues in particular are becoming increasingly important.
“Our funds lead companies to engage more actively with sustainability”
Can investment companies contribute to making the world a better place? Walter Hatak, Head of Sustainable Investments with Erste Asset Management (Erste AM), responds with a resounding “Yes – but only with the help of our clients!” More and more client assets go towards climate-friendly companies, while at the same time Erste Asset Management uses its votes from the shares it has invested the clients’ funds in to elicit more sustainability from companies across the board.