The “G” in ESG is still a hot topic for investors, as demonstrated by the success of governance proposals in this year’s proxy season.

This Alert focuses on shareholder proposals during the 2021 proxy season on three subjects: (1) political contributions, which generally seek disclosure of campaign financing policies and practices, (2) “traditional lobbying,” which typically ask for disclosure on companies’ lobbying policies and practices, and (3) a new topic, climate-related lobbying, asking companies to explain how their lobbying efforts align with the Paris Climate Agreement.

As we’re approaching the 26th Annual United Nations Climate Change Conference, we’ve taken a closer look at climate and other environmental shareholder proposals in 2021 – and what we might expect next year.

The success of human capital management (HCM) proposals helped drive the unprecedented level of support for “E&S” shareholder proposals in the 2021 proxy season. This blog focuses on what we saw in HCM proposals in 2021 and what to expect this autumn and next year.

The 2021 proxy season was unprecedented, with record support for shareholder proposals on E&S issues, sustained opposition to director elections, and significant support for governance proposals, especially at smaller companies. In this blog post, we review overall trends in E&S shareholder proposals and what they portend for next year.

At the outset of the pandemic, employees were the top priority of boards, second only to continued liquidity. That focus intensified during the social unrest following the death of George Floyd. Now, the SEC’s new disclosure rules on human capital management (HCM) could further reinforce the focus on workers — at least temporarily.

This month the Administration made cybersecurity “top priority,” elevating it as “an imperative” across government (https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/NSC-1v2.pdf). Cybersecurity is also an urgent priority for corporations. Here are six questions boards should ask management following the SolarWinds hack, "the largest and most sophisticated attack the world has ever seen."

Boards are under increased pressure to better invest in the human capital of their companies. Directors now need to work with management in defining the key attributes of their future leadership team – not just to develop the right talent for their decision-makers, but to make sure that talent stays with the organization. This guest blog post by Seymour Burchman and Blair Jones contends that it’s all about building the team that can best support the company’s mission in the face of disruption.