SIPHO PITYANA: Shareholder activists move to new frontier of economic inclusion
Companies need to be spurred into action in order to deal with similar crucial environmental, social and governance issues
Shareholder activism from socially responsible investors has evolved rapidly in recent years, from a relatively fringe phenomenon to one that increasingly defines the engagement between mainstream institutional investors and publicly traded companies. In fact, the providers of capital are constantly finding new ways of holding corporates — and their investors — accountable. Environmental, social and governance issues (ESG) is shorthand for the plethora of issues on which responsible investors focus as they search for the creation of shared value. This catch-all term can include predatory lending, environmental damage, gender disparity or practices that accelerate climate change, and many other things. At the root of this movement is a genuine desire on the part of shareholders to have a greater say in how corporates address some of society’s most pressing challenges. Among this plethora of issues is a new frontier to which shareholder activists are beginning to direct their attentio...
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