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.

This report summarises the 2024 benchmarking of New Zealand’s responsible investment market, assessing 70 investment managers using RIAA’s Responsible Investment Scorecard. It finds NZ$207 billion in responsible assets, representing 56% of total funds, and highlights expanding ESG integration, transparency, stewardship, and impact investing alongside strengthened regulation and market maturity.

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.

This report examines how investor and manager motivations—driven by either financial value or personal values—shape sustainable finance and ESG practices. It highlights definitional ambiguities, performance debates, and cultural differences, calling for clearer research to distinguish pecuniary risk-return considerations from non-pecuniary preferences in ESG investing.

This paper surveys 509 equity portfolio managers on their treatment of environmental and social factors. Findings show most prioritise financial returns, with limited willingness to sacrifice performance. ES constraints from mandates, policies, and client values strongly influence decisions. Beliefs and constraints outweigh fund labels in shaping sustainable investing practices.

The report outlines the fourth edition of the Science Based Targets initiative’s target-setting protocol. It provides updated guidance, criteria, and methodology for companies to set near-term science-based greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, aligning with 1.5°C pathways and incorporating broader coverage across sectors, geographies, and organisational boundaries.