Library | Sustainable Finance Practices
Active ownership
Active ownership is a component of effective stewardship. It refers to how investors influence the behaviour and practices of investee companies (and, where relevant, borrowers or policyholders) through engagement, proxy voting, and, where necessary, escalation. The aim is to improve ESG performance, foster long-term value creation, and ensure responsible business conduct at the company level.
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Investing in the arms race: The companies building nuclear weapons and their financiers
This report analyses 25 companies producing nuclear weapons and their financial backers. Highlighting over $1 trillion in total investments and financing from 301 institutions, it urges the financial sector to use its leverage to reject nuclear armament and make choices that benefit global security and humanity.
Socially-minded investors and corporate behavior
This report examines whether socially-minded investors influence corporate behaviour through voting, managerial incentives, or identity investing. It concludes that existing channels offer limited impact and evaluates potential legal reforms, such as binding shareholder votes and mandatory disclosures, to better align corporate actions with these investors' preferences.
2025 Water sector engagement report
Royal London Asset Management's 2025 report presents findings from a two-year engagement programme with 11 UK water utility companies across four pillars: climate change adaptation, biodiversity, affordability, and antimicrobial resistance. Nearly all companies showed improvement from baseline scores, with biodiversity recording the most notable progress.
Optional shareholder voting
This paper examines optional shareholder voting by institutional managers (IMs) using newly available SEC data on say-on-pay votes. Only 44% of IMs vote, yet their aggregate voting footprint is twice that of mutual funds. IMs use voting as a monitoring tool, with larger positions associated with greater opposition to management.
Cracking the code: Using nature data to understand the impact of the ASX200
This report analyses the nature-related impacts of Australia's ASX200 companies. It finds that utilities, energy, and materials sectors exert the highest direct environmental pressures, whereas financials and retail sectors possess significant supply chain impacts. The report advocates for TNFD-aligned disclosures and proactive investor stewardship to mitigate systemic risks.
Corporate Engagement Guide: Addressing Deforestation in Australia
This corporate engagement guide provides institutional investors with a step-by-step pathway to address deforestation within Australia's largest listed supermarkets and banks. It evaluates the current progress of major companies and offers actionable guidance to implement robust deforestation-free commitments, safeguard financial stability, and mitigate systemic economic risks.
What can investors do about climate change?
This report explores the evolving role of investors in addressing climate change. Drawing on insights from major asset managers, it advocates shifting from market-led targets to a policy-led approach. Investors are advised to focus on realistic stewardship, pragmatic objective-setting, and policy advocacy to effectively manage climate-related financial risks.
Systematic stewardship on the waterbed
Tröger argues corporate governance tools, including stewardship, say-on-climate votes and ESG-linked pay, cannot replace broad climate regulation. Firm-level interventions may trigger “waterbed effects”, shifting emissions rather than reducing them. Carbon pricing or comprehensive emissions caps are presented as more effective.
Stakeholder Engagement Guide (beta)
The Stakeholder Engagement Guide is an investor-focused tool for assessing how portfolio companies engage with affected stakeholders within human rights and environmental due diligence. It outlines four stages and seven effectiveness criteria, providing questions, indicators and examples to evaluate engagement quality and identify risks and improvements.
Shareholder proposals: An essential investor right
The report argues shareholder proposals are a key investor right, enabling engagement on governance and ESG risks, improving corporate accountability and long-term value. It highlights regulatory frameworks, practical impacts across sectors, and emerging threats to this mechanism within US capital markets.
US SIF Proxy Proposal Archive
The US SIF Proxy Proposal Archive is a public database providing access to over 7,000 shareholder proposals filed at US companies, alongside detailed research reports and annual briefings. It enables analysis of environmental, social and governance (ESG) trends, supporting investors in evaluating proxy voting issues and corporate engagement.
Seafood traceability engagement series
This series examines how investor engagement can drive improved traceability in global seafood supply chains. It focuses on assessing company progress, encouraging adoption of traceability systems, and supporting investors in identifying and managing environmental and social risks within complex seafood value chains.
Untapped potential: Asset owners and climate policy influence
Assesses major asset owners’ influence on climate policy, finding limited stewardship and advocacy despite significant potential. Most score poorly on climate lobbying oversight and transparency, with few aligning engagement to net zero goals. Highlights gaps in managing asset managers and industry associations, and calls for stronger, coordinated policy engagement.
Sustainable Finance Roundup February 2026: Disclosure, Carbon Trade, and Transition Economics
This month’s sustainability roundup traces a rapidly evolving landscape in climate governance and industrial transition, highlighting the convergence of ISSB-aligned disclosure standards and emerging carbon trade measures alongside shifting cost curves in transport and critical minerals. It underscores how tighter emissions accounting and border policies are embedding carbon competitiveness into capital allocation, while advances in electrification, AI-driven power demand and expanding legal accountability are integrating climate and nature risk into mainstream financial decision-making.
A blueprint for best practice in investor collaborations
This guide outlines best practice for investor collaborations addressing systemic ESG risks. It defines collaboration models, examines benefits and barriers, and presents a six-step framework covering leadership, governance, alignment, resourcing and accountability. Case studies illustrate how structured, investor-led initiatives can influence corporate behaviour and public policy.
Making the case: Macroeconomic risk & portfolio impact: A tool for system-level investors
Provides system-level investors with practical language, research and engagement tools to address macroeconomic and systemic risks. Argues diversified portfolios depend primarily on overall market performance, which is shaped by social and environmental externalities, and supports stewardship actions to protect long-term portfolio value.