ESG Leaders should commit to supporting a free, fair and non-violent election and upholding democratic standards in the United States.

Forceful stewardship, Corporate political capture

 

We are one day from the US Presidential election. With democratic standards eroding, we have found only two CEOs of large institutional investors who have shown that their commitment to good governance means something at this critical time, by publicly backing a statement in support of election integrity. Our congratulations to Seth Bernstein (President & CEO, Alliance Bernstein) who is backing the Civic Alliance statement and Seth Klarman (CEO, the Blaupost Group) who has signed the Leadership Now call to action.

There cannot be good governance without the rule of law, and that begins with electoral processes that voters can trust.

Institutional investors wield unrivalled systemic influence: they can and must speak out before it’s too late. Taking preventative action will be much less costly than waiting to act if there is a crisis.

In doing so investment leaders will be joining the ranks of many mainstream corporate leaders who have not been shy about calling for a normal democratic process.

We ask institutional investors and their representative organizations such as the Principles for Responsible Investment, the International Corporate Governance Network or the Council of Institutional Investors to publicly back one of several specific statements, from the Civic Alliance, the US Chamber of Commerce, the Leadership Now Project, the Association of Democratic State Treasurers, or make up their own.

Listen to our short conversation featuring Daniella Ballou-Aares (CEO, Leadership Now Project), Tomicah Tilleman (New America & Responsible Asset Allocator Initiative) and Scott Kalb  (Executive Director, Sovereign Investor Institute) in conversation with Raj Thamotheram (Senior Adviser, Preventable Surprises)

Back to all

Read next post

CLAP: fossil fuel discussion note and 29 October 2020 roundtable

17 October 2020