Large global asset managers aggregate the capital of asset owners, making them the largest shareholders of many companies around the world. In order to drive change down the investment chain, asset owners are building tools and strategies to engage with asset managers in collaborative and productive ways.
On Sept. 4, SHARE presented the “Engaging Your Asset Manager on Climate Goals” webinar. Joined by Canadian institutional asset owners Karim Bengelloun Zahr of McGill University, Jessica Mitchell of Calgary Foundation and Flavie Desgagne of Trottier Family Foundation, the webinar explored different pathways for starting and building upon your ongoing relationship management and engagement efforts with your asset manager. The conversation focused on current and ongoing efforts for engagement including asset manager due diligence questionnaires, proxy voting audits and collaborative asset owner engagements.
Watch the webinar recording below:
Below, explore some of the mentioned resources.
Asset Manager Accountability Tools
- A popular tool used by many asset owners is a due diligence questionnaire to monitor the ESG performance of their contracted managers. The 2024 questionnaire is an editable baseline built by SHARE and a group of asset owners which covers a range of ESG thematic areas including: (1) Organizational Overview; (2) Climate Action and Environmental Sustainability; (3) Human Rights and Decent Work; and (4) Racial Equity and Indigenous Reconciliation. You are encouraged to review this tool and draw from it to suit your institution’s specific goals and needs.
- Proxy Voting Audits, SHARE
- SHARE offers auditing services to help investors better understand how their proxies are being voted and to compare voting decisions across managers. The service enables investors to analyze the alignment of their proxy voting practices with their investment beliefs, as well as compare manager voting performance. Feel free to get in touch if you would like more information.
- Inspired by the CWC’s model for Asset Manager Accountability (AMA), SHARE has started the process of coordinating collaborative Canadian asset manager engagements with a broad coalition of asset owners (including pension funds, foundations, universities, religious investors, etc). Feel free to get in touch if you are interested in learning about upcoming opportunities to join an engagement.
Helpful Links and Resources
- Baseline Expectations for Asset Managers on Fundamental Labour Rights, Committee on Workers’ Capital (CWC)
- CWC’s Baseline Expectations have served as a foundation for building the asset manager questionnaire and subsequent documents related to issues beyond labour, including climate
- “Climate group says Canada’s biggest investors often fail to back shareholder proposals,” The Globe and Mail
- Despite having voting guidelines that recommend votes for climate proposals, some of Canada’s most influential investors have not consistently voted according to their own policies
