Shareholder Proposals: Past, Present, and Future

In the eleventh public lecture of this series, Professor Adriana Robertson of University of Chicago and ECGI delivered this lecture titled, "Shareholder Proposals: Past, Present, and Future"

The lecture discussed how shareholder proposals evolved from focusing primarily on corporate governance to becoming a major tool for sustainability and disclosure, with investors increasingly submitting proposals on issues such as climate change, human capital, and political spending transparency. Looking to the present and future, it highlighted a decline in support for sustainability-related proposals amid political backlash, regulatory changes, and more selective voting by large institutional investors. The lecture concluded with forward-looking insights on the future role of shareholder proposals in sustainable business and investment.

The lecture was moderated by Teck Wee TIONG, Partner and Co-Head of Sustainability & Responsible Business Practice at Wong Partnership.

The series provides monthly in-person or online public lectures. Each lecture will feature a leading academic to present cutting-edge research of a specific topic, and an industry expert to moderate the session, sharing insights from the field and also tailoring audience questions in a way to better enable bridging the gap between research and practice.