Creating guardrails to protect our common interest
Closing the engagement gap: Two new case studies on climate change and amr
Click here to see our two case studies on issues critical to shareholders advocating for improved social and environmental performance from companies: climate change and antimicrobial resistance.
TSC comment letter to sec on climate risk disclosure
Click here to view our SEC comment which explains why climate disclosure needs to focus on economy-wide impact of company behavior, not just impact on company performance.
Climate-related Risk & Diversified shareholders’ Interests
Click here to read TSC’s response to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) request for public input on steps the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) could take “to protect the life savings and pensions of U.S. workers and families from the threats of climate-related financial risk.”
the shareholder commons is tackling capital system failures that are endangering our future
Free market capitalism has made us healthier and wealthier for more than two centuries. But there is growing recognition of the costs we are paying for short-sighted business decisions that prioritize profits over our natural environment and human needs.
CAPITALISM IN CRISIS
MARKETS CONTINUE TO SEE EXTREME PROFITS EVEN AS ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL SYSTEMS WEAKEN
Trust in market systems deteriorates while current business approaches to sustainability fail to address the systemic issues. In an increasingly stressed and stratified society, business as usual is not tenable.
WE CAN DO BETTER
Preserving Human Dignity and the Earth’s Abundance
The Shareholder Commons seeks to redesign the creative engine of market capitalism to respect the dignity of all human beings and preserve the earth’s bounty. We believe capital markets should distinguish between profits earned through authentic value creation and profits that come from unsustainable and inhumane practices.
AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH
COLLECTIVE ACTION
COLLECTIVE ACTION
the power of universal owners
By harnessing the power of universal owners—large institutional investors with diversified portfolios that have a financial interest in the well-being of the economy as a whole—we are working to ensure our capital markets give priority to long term systemic health over individual company profits.
the power of universal owners
By harnessing the power of universal owners — large institutional investors with diversified portfolios that have a financial interest in the wellbeing of the economy as a whole — we are working to ensure our capital markets give priority to long term systemic health before individual company profits.
LEVEL PLAYING FIELD
To allow profit-seeking to serve its vital role in pricing goods and services, universal owners should use collective action to establish minimum standards of sustainable business practices that will establish a level playing field for sustainable competition.
LEVEL PLAYING FIELD
To allow profit-seeking to serve its vital role in pricing goods and services, universal owners should use collective action to establish minimum standards of sustainable business practices that will establish a level playing field for sustainable competition.
OUR PLAN FOR CHANGE
Modify the discussion of business responsibility in the public arena to include the need for a systemic approach and collective action by investors.
Modify and clarify the laws and regulations that govern investing, in order to ensure that investors focus on systemic value as well as individual company value.
Climate-related Risks & Diversified Shareholders’ Interests
TSC and B Lab U.S. and Canada submitted a comment letter on the proposed rule. Our letter argues for a disclosure framework that would also support a beta stewardship approach. An alpha-centered investment thesis is simply not viable in the face of the climate threat.
Regulation v. System Stewardship: The Fading Promise of Governmental Intervention
ESG activism has failed to stop companies from externalizing social and environmental costs when they can gain a financial advantage. Critics argue that shareholder activism by corporations and investors oversteps their proper sphere of influence in the U.S. Investor activism must focus on the conflict of interest that exists between individual companies and their diversified shareholders.
Climate-related Risk & Diversified Shareholders’ Interests
TSC and B Lab U.S. and Canada submitted a response to the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA). Our letter focused on two axes of investor-centered climate concern
From Financial Materiality to Sesquimateriality
Rick argued in a piece at The Harvard Governance Forum that the International Sustainability Standards Board (“ISSB”) ought to widen its aperture to prevent its own obsolescence. He also coined a new word.
Together, we're embarking on a fundamental transformation of our financial system...
