ShareAction

Finding Meaning and Hope After Climate Breakdown Threat

By Jeanne Martin, Senior Campaigns Officer

Last week, the IPCC (a group of UN climate scientists) released a report quantifying the differences between a 1.5C and a 2C world. Its key message? The next 12 years will determine whether or not we can avert the worst consequences of climate change – such as 10cm rise in sea level, putting a further 10 million people at risk of coastal flooding and water contamination by sea water, a total wipe out of coral reefs, the death of low-lying islands and a massive reduction in habitat for a large number of animals. This will cause global climate-related economic losses to soar – which have already increased by 2.5 times in the past 20 years, totalling $2.9 trillion, found the UN.

16 October 2018

Reprogramming the Economy for Inclusive Growth Is a Prudent Investment

By David O’Sullivan, Policy Officer

This month, we mark the 10th anniversary of the 2008 financial crash with distressing levels of poverty prevalent in the UK. According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 8 million people in the UK are living in ‘in-work poverty’ – where the household income is below the poverty threshold despite one member of the household working either full or part time.

27 September 2018

Our Top Ten Moments from AGM Season

By Michael Kind, Shareholder Activism Coordinator

AGM season has come to an end for this year. We facilitated 142 questions at 86 AGMs, keeping the issues that matter on the table of FTSE100 CEOs. Here are our top 10 moments:

24 September 2018

Why Workforce Disclosure Should Be Firmly on the Corporate Agenda

By Clare Richards, Good Work Programme Manager, first published in IR Magazine on 6 September

While environmental risks and governance issues like boardroom excess and chairmanship have been on investors’ radars for years, it has taken a while for the trio of ESG factors to be rounded out. The ‘S’ has only recently come to greater prominence, as companies and investors identify social issues as factors to which they should be more alert – with headline issues including diversity, modern slavery and supply chain safety.

18 September 2018

Investors Face Starker Choices on Future Routes for Oil

By Toby Belsom, Head of Research

It is coming up to six months since we published a report outlining how structural trends and heightened uncertainty would disrupt future oil demand with significant implications for publicly-listed oil companies and their investors. It also outlined the choices both investors and management have over the excess cash following improved cost control and stabilising oil prices. Would management teams ramp up capital expenditure and growth or return cash to shareholders through dividends and buy backs? We felt it was worth revisiting how the environment has moved on.

14 September 2018