Protesting apartheid. Curbing human rights abuses. Defeating Big Tobacco. Over the last 40 years, investor engagement has been a key driver of change for the good within corporate America. Now is precisely NOT the moment to stifle that influence, but that is what the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has done this week, with new rules that aim to muffle the voices of all but the largest investors in the U.S.
Will you help Ceres defend the rights of all investors? Please make a donation today.
At a time when the pandemic, the climate crisis and other global systemic risks threaten the stability of our financial markets and the broader economy, the SEC this week delivered a major setback for U.S. investors—from Main Street to Wall Street.
In a 3-2 vote, the SEC changed its rule on shareholder proposals in ways that will make it even harder for investors to manage the financial risks associated with climate change and other sustainability threats.
Shareholder proposals have long been a main vehicle for investors to directly communicate their concerns to corporate boards and management and hold them accountable for creating and protecting long-term value. This new rule will sharply limit the number and type of shareholders eligible to file proposals for votes at corporate annual meetings. According to the SEC’s own analysis, under this rule 75% of shareholders will be ineligible to file proposals with nearly every company in the S&P 500 alone.
Ceres and members of the Ceres Investor Network are ready to fight back, but we need your help. Will you give a gift today to help us challenge this harmful decision by the SEC?
There is some hope.
Two of the five SEC commissioners voted against the rule change, expressing in their dissent that the limitations harm shareholder democracy. And investors—both large and small—agree. Of the more than 13,000 comments submitted to the SEC, the vast majority opposed the rule change on numerous grounds, arguing that the SEC failed to follow procedural requirements by, among other things, failing to estimate the economic damage (lost benefits) from the reduced number shareholder proposals.
Our regulators are supposed to protect us, not cause greater damage to our precarious economic stability. |
With the backing of more than 175 institutional investors in our network, managing more than $29 trillion in assets, we are well positioned to take on the SEC to challenge this decision. We have pushed the SEC before and we won ... thanks to you. I am calling on you once more, we must remain vigilant and we need your help.
Will you help us build more support from investors, policymakers and civil society to push back on the SEC’s new rule? Please fight this threat to shareholder democracy by donating to Ceres today. |
My sincere thanks for your trust and support,
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Barbara Seymour
Director, Development
Ceres
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| P.S. Shareholder rights are a fundamental pillar to a just and sustainable economy. There’s no just and sustainable world when our regulatory bodies take away these rights. Take action now: tell the SEC to give investors back their fundamental rights. |
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