This article presents systems-informed stewardship as a new approach to advancing sustainability across the finance sector. It outlines two interdependent lenses and three practical shifts, embedding responsibility, designing for complexity, and managing adaptively to improve stewardship effectiveness.

This report argues that climate change poses systemic risks to diversified portfolios and that conventional ESG engagement is insufficient. It proposes investor-led, enterprise-agnostic “guardrails” to limit greenhouse gas emissions, protect overall economic value, and complement inadequate regulation.

This article applies a systems lens to stewardship, arguing that fragmented intermediation and entrenched short-term time horizons undermine sustainability outcomes. It calls for recognising these structural barriers as a critical step toward more effective, systems-informed stewardship.

Climate Engagement Canada is an investor-led collaborative initiative supporting corporate climate action in Canada. It engages companies on net-zero alignment, climate governance and transition planning, using benchmarks, dialogue and public reporting to drive accountability, manage climate risk and support a just transition.

Climate Engagement Canada is a public database that tracks and analyses climate-related engagement activities by Canadian institutional investors. It provides company-level information on engagement themes, progress, and outcomes to support transparency, accountability, and informed assessment of investor stewardship practices.

This article introduces systems thinking and explains how it is reshaping sustainable and impact finance by addressing interconnected systemic risks like climate change and inequality. It outlines four emerging applications; from systemic risk management to systems-informed stewardship, highlighting the implications for investors’ roles, tools, and decision-making.

Portfolios on the Ballot (POTB) is a tool by The Shareholder Commons that tracks shareholder proposals with potential system-wide economic impacts. It supports portfolio-level analysis of proxy votes, focusing on long-term market, social, and environmental risks relevant to diversified investors.

Free Float Analytics provides a global dataset ranking board directors and management by influence and performance across publicly traded companies, using proprietary metrics drawn from social science and analytics. It supports institutional investors and advisors in evaluating governance dynamics and proxy decisions, without offering investment advice.

LobbyMap is an online database that analyses corporate and trade association lobbying on climate and energy policy. It compares stated public positions with lobbying activities to assess alignment, consistency, and potential risks for investors and financial decision-making.

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.