As fund managers boost shareholder voting power, climate pressure suffers

By Trey Thoelcke Updated Nov 10, 9:43AM EST · Published Nov 10, 5:15AM EST

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As fund managers boost shareholder voting power, climate pressure suffers — © hapabapa / iStock Editorial via Getty Images

(Mark Hulbert, an author and longtime investment columnist, is the founder of the Hulbert Financial Digest; his Hulbert Ratings audits investment newsletter returns.)

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (Callaway Climate Insights) — Many climate-friendly investors have the naïve belief that the goals of E, S and G always point in the same direction.

They don’t. Not infrequently, the pursuit of one of this trio of ideals will go against one or both of the other two.

One such occasion is the growing debate over enabling fund and ETF investors to vote the shares they own indirectly in corporate proxy contests. Allowing them to do so would seem to be the very essence of shareholder democracy and good corporate governance. Yet it also will have the unintended consequence of reducing the pressure that climate polluters would otherwise receive from shareholders.

Consider BlackRock’s $BLK “Voting Choice” program, which gives the firm’s “clients — who are the true owners of the assets we manage — the option to engage much more directly in proxy voting.”…

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About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.