Do Environmental and Social funds vote the way they talk? Do they walk the walk or only talk the talk? Every year, around March-April, asset managers like BlackRock, Vanguard or Fidelity vote on behalf of their millions of funds investors in thousands of proposals at their portfolio companies. In recent years, their votes on environmental and social proposals have taken the spotlight. Indeed, the extent to which these managers support environmental and social proposals is an important factor in the debate concerning the impact of institutional investors on firms’ attitudes towards ES issues. It is equally relevant to efforts by the SEC and other regulatory agencies to encourage institutional engagement and tackle concerns over greenwashing.
