Proxy Voters, ESG Groups Continue to Face Congressional Scrutiny

The House Judiciary Committee has issued a subpoena to As You Sow—a nonprofit shareholder representative and climate action advocacy organization—and its CEO, Andrew Behar, seeking documents and instructing Behar to testify before the committee on December 1.

The subpoena served to As You Sow alleged that “corporations are collectively adopting and imposing left-wing environmental, social, and governance (ESG)-related goals, and the Committee is concerned that As You Sow appears to facilitate collusion that may violate U.S. antitrust law.”

The committee explained in the subpoena that it seeks documents and testimony from As You Sow to “understand how and to what extent As You Sow may facilitate collusion to promote ESG-related goals.”

The committee previously sent request-for-information letters to As You Sow and other organizations, such as proxy advisory service providers Glass, Lewis & Co. LLC and Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. in August. Requests were also sent to firms and advocates in the net-zero and decarbonization sectors, such as Ceres, a sustainability-focused nonprofit organization working on capital markets issues, and Aviva plc, a major insurance provider in the U.K.

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Glass Lewis, Ceres and Aviva did not respond to a request for comment, and ISS declined to comment. Chief Investment Officer is owned by ISS.

The committee’s requests, which were broadly similar in each case, specified documents relating to: goals regarding climate change; how the groups arrived at those goals; communications related to shareholder proposals that promote decarbonization; communications with shareholder engagement service providers, such as As You Sow, on how to reduce emissions through shareholder actions; communications related to how asset managers can advance decarbonization; and how decarbonization goals impact consumers of “fossil fuels such as coal, gas, and oil.”

The subpoena issued Wednesday alleges that As You Sow was non-responsive to the August request.

Danielle Fugere, president and chief counsel of As You Sow, says Behar will not testify before the committee, despite the subpoena.

Fugere says the subpoenas are “intended to reduce climate action” and that the committee has “not spelled out” what the antitrust violation would be in this case. Fugere argues that helping shareholders who want to take “climate into account” has “no anti-competitive impact whatsoever.”

Fugere adds that “there is no negative competitive impact or agreement,” because the nonprofit is not leveraging shareholder coordination to fix prices, split markets or undertake other anti-competitive behavior. She says many investors care a lot about environmental issues, and As You Sow represents their interests in communications with a public company and can assist them in the shareholder proposal and proxy voting process, adding that As You Sow doesn’t understand the committee’s claims and cannot comply with the document request due to its breadth.

Tags: Climate Change, ESG, proxy fight, Shareholder Activism

Byron Wien, one of the most influential voices on Wall Street, had a long string of admirers. Three CIOs who knew him personally applauded his abilities as a market seer and powerful intellect, with a jaunty personality that won everyone’s affection and attention.

Byron Wien

Wien, who started life in Chicago, was orphaned as a teenager and went on to a long career in finance, died on October 25 at age 90. The top strategist at Morgan Stanley and more recently at asset powerhouse Blackstone Inc., he worked up until his death and remained a well-followed savant throughout.

“Byron Wien stood out among us all,” says Britt Harris, acting CEO of the Texas Permanent School Fund Corp. and previously the CEO of the University of Texas/Texas A&M Investment Management Co.

“His unique contributions to the investment ecosystem, delivered so consistently for so long, should be celebrated for the value they created,” says Jason Klein, CIO of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

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“Byron was a friend, a wise observer of markets, businesses and human behavior and a gifted investor,” says Ash Williams, former CIO and executive director of the Florida State Board of Administration—and current vice chair at J. P. Morgan Asset Management.

As the investment chieftains attest, Wien had a rich legacy. He was celebrated for his market analysis and forecasts. “The Ten Surprises of 2023,” co-authored by Joe Zidle, Blackstone’s chief investment strategist, marked the 38th year he had issued his auguries. Only the predictions of Bob Doll, former chief equity strategist at Nuveen and BlackRock, and now CIO of Crossmark Global Investments, are as well-known, but Wien’s came first; Doll’s have been around for 30 years.

Wien also had a list of life lessons, which highlighted the importance of getting enough sleep, reading, traveling and not retiring.

His predictive effort this year, published in January, may end up more wrong than right, although two months remain in 2023. For instance, thus far he has correctly foretold the fed funds rate going higher than inflation and the continued strong dollar. More iffy calls include a recovery for the social media company X (formerly Twitter), a Ukraine ceasefire and a second-half stock market recovery.

“This great man knew the fears and frailties of an orphan personally. Then he spent his entire life adopting all of us,” Harris says. “He showed us in his commanding, but gentle, way, and he pulled us forward. Byron showed us through both his words and his deeds that this industry is sacred and also that it is flawed.”

“Byron may be most well-known as a visionary—willing to put controversial thoughts out there to stir thinking, as with his annual ‘Surprises,’” Klein says. “But he was also a funnel—willing to convene thinkers and distill insights, as with his ‘summer lunch series’“ at his house in New York’s Hamptons.

Williams remembers fondly that in “recent years, [Wien] included ‘Byron’s Life Lessons’ in his annual ‘10 Surprises’ presentation. They are simple guides to life that are as timeless as his investment wisdom. He will be missed.”