Over the past few months, the economic and political turmoil (think rollbacks of DEI and climate commitments, increasing precarity due to tariff threats, and so much more) have put us all, including those in the responsible investment space, on edge. While the temptation may be to press the pause button, to scale back ambition, at SHARE, we’re taking more of a Mike Myers approach: the antidote to overwhelm is action – especially collective action.
My take on the 2025 SHARE Investor Summit? An inspiring, challenging, educational three days exploring how to keep our “elbows up” for responsible investment and economic resilience.
From March 4-6, participants took part in energizing discussions, envisioned new strategies, met new colleagues, and came together with the shared purpose of building a more sustainable, inclusive and productive economy. While a recurring concern expressed by participants was a sense of apprehension given the current political climate, for many this apprehension was matched by an equal determination and commitment to redouble efforts and “re-up” responsible investing strategies that manage climate risk and ensure our investments address inequality and respect workers rights, Indigenous rights and reconciliation, and diversity.
In his opening remarks, SHARE CEO Kevin Thomas shared a powerful reminder of two fundamental truths: investors are not powerless, and force cannot overcome facts. The antidote to the uncertainty we face will be twofold: ensuring that our actions and institutions are grounded in facts and truth; and the need for a plan that will ensure our resilience when faced with external uncertainty.
From our keynote address presented by Nafeez Ahmed on the upheaval of current political and social systems and the emerging of new systems, to panels on emerging strategies for conflict-affected and high-risk areas and investor responses to U.S. democratic backsliding, this Summit was designed to offer our participants concrete tools, strategies, and inspiration to weather this uncertainty.
It was also designed as an opportunity for us to come together – a network of like-minded investors who recognize that embedding environmental, social and governance risk management in our investment strategy is not a luxury, but a necessity.
“The Power of Many,” our Summit theme for the past three years, is a philosophy that has been embedded in SHARE’s work since our inception 25 years ago – the belief that when investors come together with shared purpose, they have the power to effect change in capital markets at a much greater scale. As SHARE Board Co-chair Yulena Wan reminded us in her closing remarks, no single investor, institution or organization can do this work alone; and no single investor, institution or organization needs to do this work alone.
The feedback from our post-event survey has been overwhelmingly positive. For those who attended, we hope you can join us again next year. For those of you missed it, we hope you can join us next time. Regardless of which category you fall into, stay tuned for our “save the date” announcement in the coming days.
