Shareholder Engagement Strategies for Environmental, Social, and Political Issues Board Memorandum


Summary

This template memorandum is for use by corporate or outside counsel to explain to the board of directors of a public company why and how they should adapt the company's shareholder engagement strategy to a newfound emphasis on environmental, social, and political (ESP) issues. This template contains practical guidance and drafting notes. ESP issues have increased dramatically in importance to shareholders over the last twenty years. Climate change, workforce diversity, corporate political spending, and #MeToo-related sexual harassment policy reforms are a few of the most prominent, but certainly not the only, issues that activist shareholders have pressured companies to address. This has come from a swing toward institutional investors owning greater percentages of companies' stock than in the past, and a resulting swing in shareholder preference toward long-term performance gains. Counsel should apprise the board of their public company clients as to the importance of ESP issues to ...