Roundtable on Empowering Shareholders and Stakeholders

House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Waters hosted a roundtable to discuss the importance of empowering shareholders and stakeholders to better engage companies they invest in, the importance of the SEC’s climate risk disclosure rule, the need to advance other ESG disclosures, and the importance of protecting the independence of (and promoting competition among) the proxy advisors.

The panel brought together some key voices including Brooke Lierman, Comptroller, State of Maryland; Professor Shiva Rajgopal, Columbia Business School; Ben Cushing, Campaign Director, Sierra Club; Bhakti Mirchandani, Managing Director, Responsible Investing, Trinity Church Wall Street.

They did an excellent job explaining the importance of ESG metrics when making investment decisions. If you don’t have time to watch the roundtable, here’s a great quote from Brooke Lierman:

“As an investor, I want all material information about a company's risks and opportunities, their business plan, their balance sheet, vulnerability to climate change, human capital management, track record, and more, before I make a decision about where to invest. I need to have the freedom to invest based on the information that I have reviewed. As an individual investor myself, I'm my own fiduciary. I gather the data and information I need to make the best decision I can. And each of you as investors do the same. Even lawmakers who are advocating to restrict the freedom to invest and freedom of information about climate and governance risk, even they surely make data driven investment decisions.”