Asset Stewardship Report
Our 2023 report describes our approach to asset stewardship, highlights our stewardship activities, and provides data and references to help our stakeholders understand the ways we use engagement and proxy voting in pursuit of long-term value creation for our clients.
Our Principles
We have organized our proxy voting and engagement program around three broad principles:
Effective Board Oversight: We believe that well-governed companies can protect and pursue shareholder interests better and withstand the challenges of an uncertain economic environment.
Disclosure: It is important for shareholders to receive timely and accurate reporting of a company’s financial performance and strategy so that they are able to assess both the value and risk of their investment.
Shareholder Protection: We believe it is in the best interest of shareholders for companies to have appropriate shareholder rights and accountability mechanisms in place.
2023 in Review
In 2023, we voted at over 23,200 meetings on over 200,000 management and shareholder proposals.
Our Report
Download the full 2023 Asset Stewardship Report and Report Snapshot.
Effective Board Oversight
We continued our focus on encouraging stronger corporate governance practices.
Effective board oversight centers around governance. We conducted more than 450 governance-related engagements in 2023 in which we discussed issues regarding board practices, shareholder rights, and executive compensation, among other topics. Many of these engagements occurred before company shareholder meetings, but we also engaged with companies as part of the campaigns on director time commitments and managing risk of uncertainty in interest rates.
Engagement Topics Include
- Corporate Structure
- Director Elections and Governance Practices
- Director Time Commitments
- Executive Compensation
- Shareholder Rights
Climate Risk Management
Climate risk is a longstanding theme of our stewardship activities. In 2023, we continued our focus on this topic.
In 2023, we had over 160 engagements with portfolio companies on climate-related risk management. Our engagements focus on understanding how companies are both managing climate-related risks and addressing climate as an opportunity. We have held more than 1,300 climate-related engagements since 2014 and have been successful in driving improved disclosure in line with our guidance.
Through our conversations with company boards and management teams, we aim to understand whether and how companies are incorporating overseeing the risks and opportunities related to climate into relevant strategy setting and financial planning processes.
In 2023, we voted against directors 132 companies for insufficient disclosure in line with the recommendations of the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).
Engagement Topics Include
- Board Oversight
- Climate-related Risks and Opportunities
- Climate Transition Plans
- TCFD Disclosure
- Methane Emissions
Human Capital Management
Human capital management continues to be an area of focus for our Asset Stewardship team.
Human capital management continues to be an area of focus for our Asset Stewardship team.
Common topics across our HCM engagements in 2023 included oversight of recruitment and retention efforts; innovations in the context of a tight labor market and challenging economic conditions; progress toward diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals; and the KPIs tracked by boards to gauge the effectiveness of their human capital management and DEI strategies.
Engagement Topics Include
- Board Oversight
- Recruitment and Retention
- Innovation
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
We have focused on the materiality of diverse perspectives — particularly gender and racial and ethnic identities — since 2017.
We conducted 295 engagements on the topics of racial, ethnic, and gender diversity in 2023. We also have an ongoing targeted engagement campaign focused on DEI practices and disclosures at some of the largest employers in our portfolio. Our goal is to increase our understanding of DEI best practices, monitor the state of DEI risk management at our portfolio companies, and drive greater adoption of our suggested disclosures across the market.
Engagement Topics Include
- DEI Risk Management
- Strategy and Goals
- Workforce Diversity Disclosure
- Civil Rights Disclosure Criteria
Case Study Engagements
Learn more about our successes and outcomes from our 2023 high-profile engagements with some of our investee companies.
Voting and Guidance Library
View all of our voting guidelines and expectations.
About our Asset Stewardship Program
Our Asset Stewardship program is focused on identifying issues that impact long-term sustainability of our portfolio companies.
For questions or any further information on our stewardship program, please email the Governance Team at State Street Global Advisors.