In the Press
January 4, 2022

ESG Shareholder Proposals Will Be More Difficult to Exclude After SEC Staff Interpretive Reversal (The Corporate Governance Advisor)

On November 3, 2021, the staffof the Division of Corporation Finance of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14L which reverses a series of interpretive positions and is likely to result in a significant increase in the number of shareholder proposals that involve climate change, human capital management and other significant social policy issues being included in proxy statements during the 2022 proxy season. Goodwin Public Company Advisory members John O. Newell, Folake Ayoola, Jim Hammons, and Lauren Visek advise that companies should be planning for the impact of these changes on their 2022 proxy statements. Read The Corporate Governance Advisor byline here.