June 2026 Newsletter
News & Commentaries by Ron Robins
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New June Podcast:
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Why ESG frameworks are not a barrier to investing in defense assets. “While certain regulatory frameworks continue to impose constraints, evolving policy guidance increasingly recognizes defense as compatible with social sustainability objectives. Here we explain how investors are responding with structuring solutions to balance their fiduciary duties with emerging opportunities.”
[COMMENTARY] It’s interesting to see how governments are trying to influence the ESG discussion around investing in defence!
Why ESG frameworks are not a barrier to investing in defense assets, by John Adams, Jesse Debban, Daniel Harris, MaameYaa Kwafo-Akoto, Ken Rivlin, Matthew Townsend, A&O Shearman, June 23, 2026, J D Supra, USA.
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Canada’s Best 50 Corporate Citizens. “But this year, the companies on Corporate Knights’ Best 50 Corporate Citizens list are reorienting their business models around energy resilience and green opportunities. As the Canadian economy navigates a major transition, these companies are proof that sustainability is one of the keys to boosting your bottom line for the long term.”
[COMMENTARY] This annual ranking is worthwhile reviewing for all ethical and sustainable investors.
Canada’s Best 50 Corporate Citizens, introduction by Tristan Bronca, June 23, 2026, Corporate Knights, Canada.
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Asset Owner Perspectives Survey 2026 Qualitative Insights. “Now entering our fifth year for this survey, this year’s qualitative phase gathered perspectives and insights from a series of live, in-depth interviews with 25 asset owners from around the world.”
[COMMENTARY] This survey provides useful insights into how global institutional asset managers are viewing portfolio management today.
Asset Owner Perspectives Survey 2026 Qualitative Insights, by Morningstar Indexes, May 27, 2026, USA.
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ESG and Anti-ESG Shareholder Proposals in 2026. As of May 31, 2026, approximately 135 ESG-related proposals have been voted on by public company shareholders, constituting almost 35% of the total shareholder proposals voted on to date this proxy season…In 2026, the average vote in favor of anti-ESG proposals was about 1.7%; such proposals received a median support level of 1.07%. The average vote in favor of proposals supporting ESG is higher, at almost 13.3%, with a median support level of about 11.2%; one pro-ESG climate-related proposal received 47% support.”
[COMMENTARY] Interestingly, the average vote in favour of ESG proposals is significantly higher than for the anti-ESG proposals.
ESG and Anti-ESG Shareholder Proposals in 2026, by Jennifer Zepralka, Ali Perry, and Liz Walsh, Mayer Brown LLP, June 14, 2026, Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, USA.
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ESG disclosure is no longer compliance – it is a capital markets differentiator. “For capital markets and investors, ESG stopped being a narrative a long time ago: ESG drives trade-offs and decision-making. For companies, the valuation gap is real, and the cost of debt gap is real. Capital flows fifteen times faster to ESG leaders than to laggards; now is the time to seize the opportunity.”
[COMMENTARY] The writer of this article demonstrates how companies employing ESG in their operations benefit vis-à-vis companies that do not.
ESG disclosure is no longer compliance – it is a capital markets differentiator, by Consultancy-me.com, June 11, 2026.
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Excessive Executive Compensation: Investor Guidance. “In recent decades, the average CEO of the largest U.S. company has made around 300 times as much as the median worker… In 1965, CEOs were paid just 21 times as much as a typical worker.”
[COMMENTARY] This study says that one reason for the vast increase in payouts to company executives compared to the average employee is that shareholders vote with management to increase management payouts!
Excessive Executive Compensation: Investor Guidance, by Matthew Illian and Rosanna Landis Weaver, ICCR & United Church Funds, June 9, 2026, Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, USA.
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Perspectives In ESG And Sustainable Investment: ESG and the Sustainable Economy Handbook. “In sum, many institutional investors are still feeling their way as they develop their strategy for dealing with whether and how to incorporate ESG and sustainability issues into their investing decisions.”
[COMMENTARY] Since it’s JD Supra offering this handbook, it has credibility.
Perspectives In ESG And Sustainable Investment: ESG and the Sustainable Economy Handbook, by K&L Gates LLP, June 8, 2026, JDSupra, USA.
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Stocks Are Booming. What About Corporate Governance? “The problem is that the governance structures in these companies are adolescent at best, ill-equipped to handle their rapid rate of revenue growth, their evolving business models, and their swiftly changing capital structures. I fear these factors will coalesce to make an eventual market downturn even more painful than it would be otherwise.”
[COMMENTARY] Years ago, it was popular to think of ‘The Peter Principle’. It was proposed that people rise in the corporate hierarchy to the point of becoming incompetent! So it could be the case for many members of corporate boards today, according to this article. Given the recent stock market volatility, should it continue, it will be fascinating to see how well many tech company boards handle it.
Stocks Are Booming. What About Corporate Governance? By Mike O’Sullivan, June 6, 2026, Barron’s, USA.
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How DEI Shareholder Proposals Are Faring in 2026. “This year, anti-DEI proposals represent the dominant form of DEI-related shareholder activism, while pro-DEI proposals have receded significantly in both volume and voter support.”
[COMMENTARY] For many companies, DEI makes sense organizationally and financially. That doesn’t mean it’s required for every company. I sense that, in many companies, the anti-DEI shareholder proposals are political rather than financially or economically motivated.
How DEI Shareholder Proposals Are Faring in 2026, by David A. Bell and Wendy Grasso, Fenwick & West LLP, June 5, 2026, Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, USA.
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Faith-Based Investing Is a Small, But Growing, Niche. “There were about 150 faith-based mutual funds and ETFs with nearly $97 billion in assets in Morningstar’s database as of the end of April 2026, smaller than 30 entire fund families.”
[COMMENTARY] Ethical and sustainable investing has many of its roots in faith-based investing. Yet, the size of their related markets is significantly different. I’ve often wondered why that is, especially when you consider how large the purported religious affiliations of investors generally are!
Faith-Based Investing Is a Small, But Growing, Niche, by Morningstar, June 4, 2026, USA.
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The push to standardize ESG scores could make corporate greenwashing easier, not harder. “Critics, including law professor Lucian Bebchuk at Harvard University and economist Alex Edmans at London Business School, have argued that tying executive compensation to specific ESG metrics invites executives to game the scheme and may end up exacerbating the agency problem of executive pay.”
[COMMENTARY] I disagree with standardizing ESG scores, as I believe the different weights and scoring methodologies have value in assessing the performance raters. However, I do agree with standardizing the presentation of ESG data and information that ESG raters show.
The push to standardize ESG scores could make corporate greenwashing easier, not harder, by , June 2, 2026, The Conversation, Canada.
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Featured Book
Real Returns: The biggest opportunities in sustainable investing. “Real Returns highlights the biggest opportunities in sustainable investing. It goes beyond ESG criteria to focus on the most profitable and exciting sectors delivering both financial returns and sustainable outcomes.”
For more information, visit Real Returns: The biggest opportunities in sustainable investing, by Wincel Kaufmann, May 5, 2026, Practical Inspiration Publishing.
