Provide Input at Upcoming Knowledge Lab Roundtables
Join us for our next virtual System-Level Investing Knowledge Lab Roundtables to move from listening to action following the conclusion of our Knowledge Lab Listening Tour. We’ll dig into three foundational areas of work identified from the tour:
- Distinguishing portfolio-level from company-level financial effects,
- Identifying practical actions investors can take, and
- Strengthening the case for system-level investing.
We’re hosting two separate sessions on September 2nd and 3rd to accommodate different time zones internationally. Each session will be designed to be interactive with plenty of space for practical reflection, testing ideas, and sharing perspectives with us and your peers.
Choose the session that works best for you:
Register for Sept. 2nd Roundtable (Pacific)
Register for Sept. 3rd Roundtable (Atlantic)
These sessions are the first in a series of virtual and in-person roundtables hosted through the end of the year on these workstreams, including several in partnership with other leaders in the field of system-level investing. Register for or express your interest in the following sessions below and stay tuned for additional roundtables as they are scheduled.
Distinguishing Portfolio and Company Financial Effects (Virtual)
Sept. 16th/17th (Pacific)
Sept. 17th (Atlantic)
Actions of System-Level Investing – in partnership with TIIP
In person during New York Climate Week, Sept. 24th: Apply to Attend this Session
Actions of System-Level Investing (Virtual)
Oct. 7th/8th (Pacific)
Oct. 8th (Atlantic)
Bridging Research and System-Level Investing Practice – in partnership with the Externalities Investment Research Network
In person during PRI in Person Amsterdam, Oct. 15th: Reserve a Spot
How to Make the Case for System-Level Investing (Virtual)
Nov. 3rd (Atlantic)
Nov. 3rd/4th (Pacific)
Foundational Workstreams Wrap-up Roundtable (Virtual)
Dec. 8th/9th (Pacific)
Dec. 10th (Atlantic)
What We’re Reading
Plastic Pollution Is a Portfolio Problem
A new report from Sustainable Investment Exchange (SIX) indicates that plastic’s “true cost” may be at least ten times its market price and “is paid through government spending on waste management, human disease and illness, reduced ecosystem services and climate change, even if it doesn’t show up on financial statements.”
Unpacking Plastic Risk on the ASX (July 2026), assesses how companies in plastic-intensive sectors only use a limited range of tactics to manage these negative impacts. Recognizing the limits of what companies are currently doing, SIX frames plastic pollution as a particular concern for diversified investors. The report argues that the resulting health, environmental, and public costs can weaken productivity and economic growth, affecting returns across portfolio holdings. As the authors write, “Universal Owners therefore have economic incentives to push portfolio companies to reduce plastic pollution, much as they do with climate emissions.”
The Portfolio Case for Addressing Inequality
How does rising economic inequality affect an investor’s portfolio? In How Extreme and Rising Economic Inequality Affects Investors and How They Can Respond (July 2026), the PRI traces how widening gaps in income and wealth can affect consumer demand, human capital, political stability, and financial markets.
For diversified investors, PRI describes how these effects can spread across portfolio holdings and offset gains captured by individual companies. The resulting societal, macroeconomic, and financial instability may, in PRI’s words, “drag down portfolio value across virtually all holdings.” The report then proposes specific responses that investors can take to address these issues.
From Asset-Class Silos to the Whole Portfolio
Could asset-class silos make it harder for investors to see risks affecting the whole fund? In The Total Portfolio Approach (TPA): A Practical Guide for Navigating the Transition to TPA (July 2026), the CFA Institute describes an approach that evaluates investments by their contribution to total-fund objectives. The report examines the governance, culture, and organizational changes this shift requires.
The authors argue that TPA can also support system-level investing by treating climate change, biodiversity loss, and social instability as portfolio-wide risks that “cannot be diversified away.” The approach can help investors integrate system-level risk, stewardship, and investments’ real-world effects into decisions across the whole portfolio.
Shareholder Rights Group Response to SEC Permanent Withdrawal of Shareholder Proposal No-Action Process
On August 14, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance announced that it will stop responding to all Rule 14a-8 no-action requests until further notice. The Shareholder Rights Group (SRG) released a response outlining the downsides of this new rule and a proposed alternative.
They argue that this leaves litigation as the only neutral forum for resolving disputes, disadvantaging proponents with fewer resources and resulting in fewer proposals addressing emerging risks. SRG’s response highlights a rulemaking petition filed in July 2026 by the Shareholder Rights Group, the New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, Ceres, For the Long Term, the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, and US SIF, which asks the SEC to retain the process with clearer deadlines and an engagement period.
