Stor amerikansk pensionskasse sætter ny standard for aktivt ejerskab

En stor amerikansk pensionskasse går nu helt nye veje i det aktive ejerskab overfor børsnoterede selskaber, med krav om god selskabsledelse især indenfor CSR på en stribe helt konkrete felter, eksempelvis brug af vildledende reklamer i markedsføring og tættere kobling mellem CSR mål og topledelsens incitamentsaflønning. Ifølge handlingsplanen arbejdes der blandt andet på ”Seek increased investment in renewable energy sources. Request a report on company energy efficiency policies and goals. Ask companies to stop all misleading advertising to youth and to increase health warnings on cigarette smoking. Ask companies to increase recycling efforts or adopt a formal recycling policy. Call for linkage of executive pay to non-financial factors, including performance related to social and environmental goals, customer and employee satisfaction, corporate downsizing, community involvement, human rights or predatory lending. Implement human rights standards and workplace codes of conduct. Request that a company conduct an assessment of the human rights risks in its operations or in its supply chain. In addition to the proposals above, the Treasurer also introduced a new statement of principle in which PRIM calls on companies to lead on the issue of wage equality and proactively seek to hire a diverse workforce. “Large institutional investors such as PRIM have the ability to influence corporate governance and policy through the proxy voting process, and PRIM has traditionally exercised that influence based on guidelines established by the PRIM Board,” said Michael G. Trotsky, CFA, Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer of PRIM.