Results of the latest research
The State of Science
Research on shareholder engagement has increased significantly in recent years. Various disciplines are empirically analysing whether and how investors contribute to a more sustainable economy.
The key findings of the latest research are as follows:
- An analysis of more than 7,000 shareholder proposals shows that companies engaging with environmental shareholder proposals demonstrably improve their environmental performance, for example their climate footprint. Even the filing of such proposals acts as a signal and influences corporate strategy. The greater the number of proposals, the stronger the effect on environmental performance. (Busch, T., Scheitza, L. et al. (2025). Shareholder Signaling and Corporate Strategy. Organization & Environment.)
- Targeted shareholder engagement by financial institutions can motivate companies to set science-based climate targets. The likelihood that companies commit to climate targets increases significantly when engagement is combined with a credible threat of exit. This demonstrates that investors can drive real changes in corporate policy through engagement and exit strategies. (Heeb, F. & Kölbel, J. (2024). The Impact of Climate Engagement. SAFE Working Paper 437.)
- This study shows how asset owners worldwide can use engagement to overcome structural and cultural differences. Two distinct channels of influence are identified. In countries such as India or Brazil, for example, companies exhibit a low dependence on institutional investors (“company-centric”) and are therefore less receptive to shareholder initiatives. In Europe, by contrast, strong institutional investors dominate (“owner-centric”), giving owners greater influence. The effectiveness of engagement depends on such local conditions, making a tailored approach essential. Globalance contributed to this study from a practitioner’s perspective. (Marti, E., Chuah, K. & Gond, J.-P. (2025). Chains of Inflfluence. Bayes Business School.)
- The study examines the impact of anti-ESG regulations in Texas. The findings show that these policy measures have little effect on the investment behavior of institutional investors. Despite regulatory interventions, sustainable investment strategies remain largely unchanged. The research indicates that market forces and investor preferences exert a stronger influence than political mandates. (Rajgopal, S., Srivastava, A. & Zhao, R. (2025). Economic Substance Behind Texas Anti-ESG Sanctions.)
- An overview published by Harvard Law School in fall 2025 also confirms this trend for the United States: the 2025 proxy season showed that, despite an apparent increase in public anti-ESG sentiment and anti-ESG shareholder proposals at 140 companies, support for anti-ESG measures remains low.(Walsh, L., Perry, A. & Zepralka, J. (2025). Anti-ESG Shareholder Proposals. Harvard Law Review Blog.)
Globalance regularly monitors developments in research. It provides us with valuable insights,
how we can continuously improve our own approach and make it more effective.
