Record ESG proposals are being fueled by a more shareholder-friendly SEC regime and growing awareness of shareholder engagement tools, according to Michael Connor, the executive director of Open Mic, an organization that works with institutional investors to file social impact shareholder proposals targeting Big Tech. Companies usually try to block shareholder resolutions through legal challenges, but “right now, the folks who make those decisions at the SEC are more favorably inclined toward shareholder resolutions,” Connor told Protocol.
ESG’s dual-shareholder problem