Investor Sustainability Engagement

Hybrid event

Investor Sustainability Engagement

  • 23 - 24 June 2022
  • •
  • Amsterdam

Watch the videos here

Investor Sustainability Engagement

 

Thursday, 23 June 2022

12:00 – 19:00 CEST

Friday, 24 June 2022

08:45 – 17:00 CEST

Location

University of Amsterdam | Online

Roeterseiland campus, A building, room A2.09

Download the programme

Organisers

Anne Lafarre (Tilburg University & ACLE)
Suren Gomtsian (University of Leeds & ACLE)
Alessio M. Pacces (University of Amsterdam, ACLE & ECGI)

 

Supported by

University of Amsterdam - Amsterdam Center for Law & Economics and Amsterdam Centre for Transformative Private Law
University of Leeds - Centre for Business Law and Practice and Michael Beverley Innovation Fellowship Programme
Tilburg University - The Dutch Research Council (NWO)

 

About the Event

Recent years have witnessed a growing pressure on corporations to act more responsibly towards stakeholders other than shareholders. Demands for more responsible behaviour are coming from different sides, including from institutional investors who have become large shareholders in many corporations around the world. Powerful institutional shareholders are at the centre of private actor-led efforts to make businesses more sustainable.

Institutional shareholders, however, face many challenges in engaging with portfolio firms. Effective engagement requires a good understanding of target companies, their businesses and the relevant trade-offs, more clarity about the meaning of corporate sustainability, and the availability of credible information about business practices. Questions also remain about the incentives of institutional shareholders to drive changes in corporate behaviours and about the overall impact of investor sustainability engagement.

The conference on Investor Sustainability Engagement answered these questions by bringing together world-class scholars from law, corporate finance and economics, and leading practitioners from different sectors. This hybrid conference took place at the University of Amsterdam, in person, and virtually over Zoom on June 23-24, 2022. There were sessions with presentations of academic papers and a roundtable discussion on investor sustainability engagement by experts from the investor community, consultants, and charities.

Information

Address:
University of Amsterdam
Contact:
Alessio M. Pacces
University of Amsterdam
a.m.pacces@uva.nl

Thursday, 23 June 2022 | 12:00 CEST

12:00

Welcome and light lunch

Back to full programme

Panel 1: Regulation of corporate purpose

Time:
12:40h

: Topics-

1. General trends on the regulation of corporate purpose

2. EU Directive of February 2022 on corporate sustainability due diligence

Speakers (Papers):

Moderator

Panelists

Back to full programme

Panel 2: Corporate sustainability in the Netherlands

Time:
14:40h

Topics:

  • Corporate purpose in the Netherlands
  • New corporate governance code

Speakers: (papers)

Moderator

Panelists

16:10

Break

Back to full programme

Panel 3: Stewardship Reporting and Sustainability Engagement in the shadow of voting

Time:
17:30h

Topics:

  • Evidence on the preferences and the behaviour of institutional investors
  • The role of pension funds
  • Shareholder-sponsored sustainability-related proposals

Speakers: (papers)

Moderator

Panelists

Anne Lafarre
19:00

Conference Dinner (by invitation)

Friday, 24 June 2022 | 08:45 CEST

08:45

Welcome

Back to full programme

Panel 4: Stewardship Codes for Sustainability Engagement

Time:
09:00h

Topics:

  • New generation stewardship codes with stronger focus on sustainability
  • The effectiveness of institutional investor engagement and the role of stewardship codes

Speakers: (papers)

  • Jennifer Hill (Monash), Stewardship Codes, ESG Activism, and Transnational Ordering

  • Giovanni Strampelli (Bocconi), Institutional Investor Engagement and Investees’ ESG Performances: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4011957

  • Konstantinos Sergakis (Glasgow), Stewardship Codes, Democratisation of Sustainable Investment and Shareholder Personhood  

Moderator

Panelists

10:30

Short Break

Back to full programme

Panel 5: Challenges of Investor Sustainability Engagement

Time:
10:45h

Topics:

  • Green transition and greenwashing
  • Common ownership
  • Legislative and private ordering solutions

Speakers: (papers)

  • Alessio Pacces (UvA), The Tension between Investor Engagement and the Management Vision on Sustainability
  • Virginia Harper Ho (CUHK), Informational Challenges of Investor Stewardship in the Sustainable Finance Transition
  • Luca Enriques (Oxford) Dual Class Shares in the Age of Common Ownership: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4046244

Moderator

Panelists

12:15

Lunch break

Back to full programme

Panel 6: Can Investor-Led Sustainability Succeed?

Time:
13:30h

Topics:

  • Impact of investor engagements on sustainability

  • The role of hedge funds in sustainable capitalism

  • Collective investor engagement

Speakers: (papers)

Moderator

Panelists

15:00

Short Break

Back to full programme

Panel 7: The Role of Incentives in the Sustainability Revolution

Time:
15:15h

Topics:

  • Commitments to sustainability
  • Shareholder preferences over executive compensation
  • Sustainability targets and executive pay

Speakers:

  • Thom Wetzer (Oxford) Green Pills: Making Corporate Carbon Commitments Credible 
  • Tom Gosling (LBS), Paying Well by Paying for Good: Can Executive Pay Support Sustainability?
  • Suren Gomtsian (Leeds), Executive Compensation and Shareholder Preferences
  • Antje Stobbe (Allianz GI Sustainability Team)
  • Janet Visbeen (PwC)
     

Moderator

Panelists

Tom Gosling
17:00

Closing

Speakers

Tom Gosling
Anne Lafarre
Xander Urbach

Panel Discussions

Back to all panel discussions

Panel 1: Regulation of corporate purpose

Time:
12:40h

: Topics-

1. General trends on the regulation of corporate purpose

2. EU Directive of February 2022 on corporate sustainability due diligence

Speakers (Papers):

Moderator

Panelists

Back to all panel discussions

Panel 2: Corporate sustainability in the Netherlands

Time:
14:40h

Topics:

  • Corporate purpose in the Netherlands
  • New corporate governance code

Speakers: (papers)

Moderator

Panelists

Video: 

Expert Roundtable on Sustainability Engagements

Dr.
Anne Lafarre
Video: 

Panel 3: Stewardship Reporting and Sustainability Engagement in the shadow of voting

Back to all panel discussions

Panel 3: Stewardship Reporting and Sustainability Engagement in the shadow of voting

Time:
17:30h

Topics:

  • Evidence on the preferences and the behaviour of institutional investors
  • The role of pension funds
  • Shareholder-sponsored sustainability-related proposals

Speakers: (papers)

Moderator

Panelists

Anne Lafarre
Back to all panel discussions

Panel 4: Stewardship Codes for Sustainability Engagement

Time:
09:00h

Topics:

  • New generation stewardship codes with stronger focus on sustainability
  • The effectiveness of institutional investor engagement and the role of stewardship codes

Speakers: (papers)

  • Jennifer Hill (Monash), Stewardship Codes, ESG Activism, and Transnational Ordering

  • Giovanni Strampelli (Bocconi), Institutional Investor Engagement and Investees’ ESG Performances: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4011957

  • Konstantinos Sergakis (Glasgow), Stewardship Codes, Democratisation of Sustainable Investment and Shareholder Personhood  

Moderator

Panelists

Back to all panel discussions

Panel 5: Challenges of Investor Sustainability Engagement

Time:
10:45h

Topics:

  • Green transition and greenwashing
  • Common ownership
  • Legislative and private ordering solutions

Speakers: (papers)

  • Alessio Pacces (UvA), The Tension between Investor Engagement and the Management Vision on Sustainability
  • Virginia Harper Ho (CUHK), Informational Challenges of Investor Stewardship in the Sustainable Finance Transition
  • Luca Enriques (Oxford) Dual Class Shares in the Age of Common Ownership: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4046244

Moderator

Panelists

Back to all panel discussions

Panel 6: Can Investor-Led Sustainability Succeed?

Time:
13:30h

Topics:

  • Impact of investor engagements on sustainability

  • The role of hedge funds in sustainable capitalism

  • Collective investor engagement

Speakers: (papers)

Moderator

Panelists

Video: 

Panel 7: The Role of Incentives in the Sustainability Revolution

Back to all panel discussions

Panel 7: The Role of Incentives in the Sustainability Revolution

Time:
15:15h

Topics:

  • Commitments to sustainability
  • Shareholder preferences over executive compensation
  • Sustainability targets and executive pay

Speakers:

  • Thom Wetzer (Oxford) Green Pills: Making Corporate Carbon Commitments Credible 
  • Tom Gosling (LBS), Paying Well by Paying for Good: Can Executive Pay Support Sustainability?
  • Suren Gomtsian (Leeds), Executive Compensation and Shareholder Preferences
  • Antje Stobbe (Allianz GI Sustainability Team)
  • Janet Visbeen (PwC)
     

Moderator

Panelists

Tom Gosling