Mercy Investment Services and other faith-based investors gathered in March for the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility’s (ICCR) annual spring conference. Mercy staff explored and collaborated on various topics impacting shareholder advocacy:
- Defending shareholder rights continued to be a central topic due to growing anti-ESG policies and several lawsuits against investors. Shareholders and a panel of experts discussed the legality of the suits, legal mitigation strategies, and investor responses to convey how inappropriate it is for companies to be involved in anti-ESG actions.
- A panel discussing the intersection of climate and racial justice emphasized the importance of acknowledging and working on climate justice with a racial justice lens – specifically through finance. The panel included investors, a representative from Amalgamated Bank and the Reparations Finance Lab.
- Mercy staff served on a panel regarding effectively navigating corporate dialogues. All speakers provided insights and tactics to cultivate and maintain fruitful dialogue with companies.
- A panel discussion highlighted the real-world impacts on the lack of accessible health care, medicines, and health insurance coverage. The conversation highlighted the releases of the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Social Due Diligence Directive (CSDD) which underscore the importance of human right to health.
Mercy Investment Services continues to value its collaborations through ICCR and will use the insights gained from the conference in its more than 190 shareholder engagements.