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Sustainable Investing
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April 30, 2024

2024 Stewardship Trends

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April 30, 2024

2024 Stewardship Trends


Sustainable Investing

2024 Stewardship Trends

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April 30, 2024

 
 

Executive Summary

As the 2024 proxy season kicks off, the Morgan Stanley Investment Management (“MSIM”)1 Global Stewardship Team2 (“GST”, or “we”) highlights three key themes: Natural Capital and Biodiversity, Workers’ Rights, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) that we believe3 will be high on the agenda for investors.

  • Natural Capital and Biodiversity Stewardship: Increased focus around portfolio companies’ impact and dependencies on natural resources, in consideration of the new guidance from the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD).
  • Workers’ Rights: We expect shareholder resolutions focused on workers’ rights to maintain higher investor support compared to other social issues in 2024.
  • AI Transparency and Oversight: The GST expects proposals to establish AI oversight and transparency as a new emerging issue across sector in the 2024 proxy season. For instance, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published letters suggesting that Apple4 and Disney5 should put their AI-related shareholder proposals to a vote has set a precedent.
 
 

1 MSIM refers to the investment management business segment of Morgan Stanley, a global financial services firm. MSIM is composed of a number of wholly-owned subsidiaries of Morgan Stanley, including MSIM Fund Management (Ireland) Limited. References to “Morgan Stanley” or the “Firm” in this document refer to the parent company and its consolidated subsidiaries. In some instances, MSIM may leverage or be a part of Morgan Stanley’s processes and/ or initiatives related to sustainable investing. Certain subsidiaries of Morgan Stanley in its Investment Management business, including but not limited to Calvert Research and Management and Parametric Portfolio Associates LLC, may differ in their approach to sustainable investing and maintain separate sustainability policies. Accordingly, the discussion of sustainable investing described herein may not be applicable to each Morgan Stanley affiliate or investment team. Further, some investment strategies may not consider ESG factors where it is not currently feasible or appropriate to do so, e.g., passive investment strategies, certain asset allocation strategies, or where requested by clients.
2 The MSIM Global Stewardship Team (the “Global Stewardship Team”), as part of the MSIM Sustainability team, supports and helps investment teams coordinate MSIM proxy voting and investee engagement activities.
3 Not all of these are current engagement themes on which MSIM investment teams are focused, but rather, areas where the Global Stewardship Team see potential for further investor engagement in 2024.
4 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Apple Inc. 2024-01-03 (Retrieved 2024-04-08)
5 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, The Walt Disney Company. 2024-01-03. (Retrieved 2024-02-27)

 
robert.walker
Executive Director
MSIM Global Head of Stewardship
 
 
 
 

DEFINITIONS

"ESG" investment: Environmental Social and Governance based investment is an investment approach which takes explicit account of the environmental, social and corporate governance aspects of all proposed investments.

RISK CONSIDERATIONS

There is no assurance that a portfolio will achieve its investment objective. Portfolios are subject to market risk, which is the possibility that the market values of securities owned by the portfolio will decline and that the value of portfolio shares may therefore be less than what you paid for them. Market values can change daily due to economic and other events (e.g. natural disasters, health crises, terrorism, conflicts and social unrest) that affect markets, countries, companies or governments. It is difficult to predict the timing, duration, and potential adverse effects (e.g. portfolio liquidity) of events. Accordingly, you can lose money investing in this portfolio. Please be aware that this portfolio may be subject to certain additional risks. In general, equities securities’ values also fluctuate in response to activities specific to a company. Investments in foreign markets entail special risks such as currency, political, economic, market and liquidity risks. The risks of investing in emerging market countries are greater than risks associated with investments in foreign developed countries. Privately placed and restricted securities may be subject to resale restrictions as well as a lack of publicly available information, which will increase their illiquidity and could adversely affect the ability to value and sell them (liquidity risk). Derivative instruments may disproportionately increase losses and have a significant impact on performance. They also may be subject to counterparty, liquidity, valuation, correlation and market risks. To the extent that the Strategy invests in a limited number of issuers (focused investing), the Strategy will be more susceptible to negative events affecting those issuers and a decline in the value of a particular instrument may cause the Strategy’s overall value to decline to a greater degree than if the Strategy were invested more widely. ESG Strategies that incorporate impact investing and/or Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors could result in relative investment performance deviating from other strategies or broad market benchmarks, depending on whether such sectors or investments are in or out of favor in the market. As a result, there is no assurance ESG strategies could result in more favorable investment performance. China Risk. Investments in securities of Chinese issuers, including A-shares, involve risks associated with investments in foreign markets as well as special considerations not typically associated with investments in the U.S. securities markets. Investments in China involve risk of a total loss due to government action or inaction. Additionally, the Chinese economy is export-driven and highly reliant on trade. Adverse changes to the economic conditions of its primary trading partners, such as the United States, Japan and South Korea, would adversely impact the Chinese economy and the Fund’s investments. Moreover, a slowdown in other significant economies of the world, such as the United States, the European Union and certain Asian countries, may adversely affect economic growth in China. An economic downturn in China would adversely impact the Portfolio’s investments. Risks of Investing through Stock Connect. Any investments in A-shares listed and traded through Stock Connect, or on such other stock exchanges in China which participate in Stock Connect is subject to a number of restrictions that may affect the Portfolio's investments and returns. Moreover, Stock Connect A shares generally may not be sold, purchased or otherwise transferred other than through Stock Connect in accordance with applicable rules. The Stock Connect program may be subject to further interpretation and guidance. There can be no assurance as to the program’s continued existence or whether future developments regarding the program may restrict or adversely affect the Portfolio's investments or returns. Active Management Risk. The Adviser has considerable leeway in deciding which investments to buy, hold or sell, and which trading strategies to use. Such decisions will affect performance. To the extent the Portfolio invests a substantial portion of its assets in the information technology sector, the Portfolio may be particularly impacted by events that adversely affect the sector, and may fluctuate more than that of a portfolio that does not invest significantly in companies in the technology sector. To the extent the Portfolio invests a substantial portion of its assets in the consumer discretionary sector, the Portfolio may be particularly susceptible to the risks associated with companies operating in such sector.

The views and opinions are those of the author as of the date of publication and are subject to change at any time due to market or economic conditions and may not necessarily come to pass. The views expressed do not reflect the opinions of all investment personnel at Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) and its subsidiaries and affiliates (collectively the Firm”), and may not be reflected in all the strategies and products that the Firm offers.

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