September 5, 2023
ISS Launches Annual Global Benchmark Policy Survey
Welcome back from the long weekend, everyone. In a treasured end-of-summer tradition, ISS recently announced that it has released its Annual Global Benchmark Policy Survey. There is nothing quite like this annual event to help us focus on what lies ahead in the upcoming proxy season. This year I’m particularly grateful for the opportunity to focus on the future, because my middle child is excitedly heading to his first day of kindergarten today, and there have been tears (from me, not him).
Anyway, in addition to executive compensation topics, this year’s survey includes questions on:
– Impact on director independence of being employed by a firm that provides professional services to the company
– Application of FPI vs. market-specific policy to companies that dual-list in the country of incorporation
– Whether the ISS policies should aim for global consistency on certain E&S issues vs. take a market-specific approach
– How investors and companies are considering single vs. double materiality
– What actions investors should expect companies to take to reduce an environmental or social risk that appears to be material to a company
– For high GHG emitters, whether risk should be assessed based on meeting standards under all of the governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics & targets pillars vs. each pillar individually
– Input on what guidelines, standards and frameworks are most relevant to companies and investors for drafting a climate transition strategy or plan
– How much tolerance investors will have for a reduction in transparency that results from risks from increased politicization of “ESG”
The survey is slated to close on September 21, 2023, at 5 p.m. ET.
In addition to feedback from the annual survey, as ISS develops its 2024 voting policies, it will also gather input from investors, company directors, and others by hosting various regionally-based, topic-specific roundtable discussions and other engagements. ISS will then publish for public comment the key proposed changes to its voting policies for next year, before adopting and publishing the final policies that will apply to 2024 meetings.
– Liz Dunshee