This multidisciplinary review examines how sustainable investing affects environmental and social outcomes. It identifies three investor impact strategies—portfolio screening, shareholder engagement, and field building—and 15 mechanisms producing direct and indirect effects. The study argues impact emerges gradually through coordinated actions by diverse shareholders.

This month’s sustainable finance roundup traces the shift from ambition to enforcement, as climate and nature risks become financial, regulatory and legal realities. It covers Australia’s environmental law reforms, the embedding of climate and nature risk through prudential supervision, disclosure and shareholder pressure, and insurer warnings on the limits of insurability. It also highlights how markets are responding to deforestation and biodiversity risk, and how litigation and regulation are reshaping governance and long-term financial resilience.

This bibliometric review of 1,055 works (1983–2021) charts the evolution of shareholder activism research. It highlights a shift from financial drivers to sustainability-oriented goals. While interdisciplinarity is increasing, disciplinary silos remain. The authors advocate for holistic approaches evaluating non-financial impacts alongside traditional metrics.

The report outlines the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance’s progress in reducing financed emissions, strengthening target-setting, and expanding climate-solution investments. It highlights updated methodologies, increased engagement with companies and policymakers, and rising member participation, underscoring the need for credible transition pathways and supportive policy environments to advance alignment with 1.5°C goals.

This publication is part of the Gender Benchmark series by the World Benchmarking Alliance. It serves as a practical tool for investors to assess and engage companies on their performance in advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment across value chains, supporting stewardship and responsible investment practices.

This World Benchmarking Alliance report guides investors on using the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark to assess company performance in high-risk sectors. It outlines key findings, investor engagement questions, and sector-specific risks to promote accountability, human rights due diligence, and responsible investment aligned with sustainable development goals.

This 2022 report by the Responsible Investment Association Australasia and KPMG examines how investors in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand practise stewardship. It identifies proactive, strategic, and reactive approaches, analyses barriers such as capability and structural limitations, and highlights collaboration, engagement, and policy advocacy as key tools for advancing ESG outcomes.

The Asia Investor Group on Climate Change (AIGCC)’s fourth annual report surveys Asian investors managing USD 7.9 trillion to assess their progress on net-zero investment strategies. It highlights growing commitments to emissions measurement, climate solutions, and stewardship, while identifying data gaps, limited policy clarity, and inconsistent methodologies as persistent barriers.

Rockefeller Capital Management (RockCo) delivers wealth management, asset management and investment banking services grounded in the Rockefeller legacy. Serving individuals, families and institutions, RockCo emphasises bespoke financial solutions, generational wealth planning and strategic advisory — combining innovation with long-standing trust.

This report summarises private shareholder engagements in Japan by Governance for Owners Japan between 2009 and 2019. Findings show high success rates and positive abnormal returns, with quiet activism proving more effective than public campaigns. Evidence indicates such private engagements support Japan’s governance reforms and long-term shareholder value.

Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI) is a Japanese policy think tank founded in 2001. RIETI conducts theoretical and empirical economic research, bridges academe and government, and offers evidence-based trade, industry and economic policy recommendations.

This report summarises research comparing the effectiveness of “exit” strategies, such as divestment and boycotts, with “voice” strategies, such as shareholder engagement, in influencing corporate behaviour. It concludes that when most investors are even slightly socially responsible, engagement leads to socially optimal outcomes, whereas exit rarely does and can reduce welfare.

The report by Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) evaluates how engagement by external asset managers has affected investee companies from 2017–2022. Using causal inference analysis across over 26,000 engagements, it finds positive links between engagement and improvements in corporate value, governance, decarbonisation, and diversity.

Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) is an independent administrative institution in Japan. It manages and invests pension reserve funds under Japan’s Employees’ Pension Insurance and National Pension Acts. GPIF seeks long-term, diversified returns while emphasising ESG investment and stewardship in public pension finance.

This study analyses whether investor engagement on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues reduces firms’ downside risk. Using data from 1,443 engagements with 485 global firms (2005–2018), it finds that successful engagements, particularly on environmental and climate issues, significantly lower downside risk and related environmental incidents.

This report summarises analysis of 31 PRI-coordinated investor engagements on environmental and social issues between 2007 and 2015. It finds that leadership structures, particularly two-tier models with lead and supporting investors, enhance engagement success, improve target company performance, and are associated with higher subsequent fund flows for participating investors.