Dr. Emma Sjöström, author of the report and leader of the sustainable finance research initiative at SSE.

"Active ownership can take many forms. Shareholders might engage in dialogue with corporate management in order to instigate improvements in corporate conduct; shareholders can file resolutions that are voted on at corporations’ annual general meetings or may choose to divest themselves of their shares in an entire sector; some may even file a lawsuit in an attempt to persuade a company to correct wrongdoing", writes Sjöström, and underlines the importance of exploring the success factors of different approaches.

Key findings of the report include that legitimacy is more important than magnitude of ownership in directing firms towards sustainability, and that resolutions tend to be more successful if they ask for increased transparency rather than more substantive change.

Full report active ownership emma sjöström final.pdf