As regular readers of this blog will know, we’ve reached the point in the season where the major asset managers have updated their voting policies.

Weil recently published this voting guide to show where things stand with the “Big 3” – BlackRock, State Street Investment Management and Vanguard – with a special focus on environmental, social, and governance topics. It focuses on the policies that apply to the index funds managed by these institutions (i.e., not the active funds, which are a smaller portion of the holdings and may be voted differently).

The guide has two handy charts that are good as a quick reference tool. One shows year-over-year changes by topic, the other summarizes the current policies of each of the Big 3 on each of these topics:

– Board Diversity

– Director Time Commitments / Overboarding

– Independent Board Leadership

– Board Oversight of ESG Risks & Opportunities

– Use of ESG Disclosure Frameworks

– Climate Risk-Related Disclosure

– Human Capital Management / Workforce Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

– Human Rights

– Political Contributions, Lobbying & Trade Association Memberships

– ESG Metrics in Compensation

As we head into the home stretch of “proxy season” for many companies, remember that we’re posting lots of helpful resources for members in our “Proxy Season” Practice Area.

– Liz Dunshee