Conversations at Toniic: Shareholder Power in a Polarized World

How impact investors are navigating backlash and staying the course

In today's volatile markets and amid an intensifying global trade war, impact investors face unprecedented headwinds. Across the globe—particularly in the U.S.—we’re seeing political pressure mount against #ESG and #DEI, with new rulings and campaigns seeking to limit transparency and sideline investor influence.

In a recent Toniic member call on "Navigating Shareholder Engagement in a Polarized World," we came together with Amy Clarke , co-founder and Chief Impact Officer at Tribe Impact Capital and Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow to unpack this moment.

What does it mean to stay engaged when the rules are shifting? How do we protect the progress we’ve made—and continue pushing forward?

The discussion was candid and clear-eyed. Investors shared concern about the backlash, but also affirmed their conviction: shareholder engagement remains one of the most powerful tools in our impact toolkit. And in moments like this, the strength of our collective voice matters more than ever.

The Shifting Landscape of Shareholder Engagement

For many in the Toniic community, engaging public companies has long been part of the impact playbook. Whether through investing in values-aligned firms or holding shares in companies to influence them from within, shareholder engagement has proven to be a meaningful lever for change.

“Engagement isn’t one-size-fits-all, sometimes it’s a quiet, ongoing dialogue with management. Sometimes it’s filing a resolution and putting it to a vote. Both approaches can be powerful." - Amy Clarke, Co-Founder and Chief Impact Officer at Tribe Impact Capital.

These votes—occurring primarily between April and June in the U.S. during "proxy season"—have historically driven significant achievements under the guidance of strategic publications such as the Proxy Preview by As You Sow, the primary ESG and DEI non-profit leader in shareholder advocacy since 1992.

But that progress is now being tested.

The Backlash and Its Implications

Over the last years, shareholder rights have come under increasing pressure. In the U.S., new SEC rules have made it harder to file resolutions, conservative campaigns have sought to discredit ESG and DEI efforts altogether, resulting in a sharp decline in shareholder resolution proposals filed in 2025.

“In 2022, we had record-breaking shareholder support with 38 majority votes—including resolutions passing with 98% support,” said Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow. “That’s when the backlash began. A $1.6 billion campaign led by Leonard Leo was launched to dismantle the progress of shareholder engagement. Suddenly, major asset managers that know climate risk is investing risk started voting with management.”

The impact has been tangible. "BlackRock went from supporting As You Sow’s resolutions from about 47% of the time to just about 3%," Behar notes.

Meanwhile the largest proxy voting platform, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), which controls approximately 80% of the market, recently announced they will ignore DEI considerations for board member nominations—a move that could result in less transparent markets and unaccounted material ESG risks.

Europe and Asia: Alternative Paths Forward?

The reaction isn't limited to the U.S. In Europe, impact investors have felt the pressure to lower the standards of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). However, Clarke offers a nuanced view: "I wouldn't have said necessarily that there is widespread sentiment to lower the standards. There is more support to ensure interoperability between disclosure and labelling regimes."

Behar is less optimistic about recent European developments: "CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) and CS3D (Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive) were gutted. We were very hopeful those standards would go through as written and apply disclosure rules to about 10,000 US multinationals. They just had an omnibus to roll them back—we're talking about a major rollback, basically exempting 80% of the companies from having to report and only to tier one suppliers rather than to the raw commodity level."

In contrast, investors are increasingly looking eastward. "China, for example, introduced significant new disclosure requirements in 2024,” Clarke noted. “There’s a growing sense that investors are watching, and that transparency is becoming a competitive advantage. As global regulations diverge, impact investors pay close attention to where the enabling environments are strongest.”

The Power of Collective Agency

Despite these challenges, Clarke and Behar emphasize that shareholder engagement remains a powerful tool. Clarke shares a success story: "Two years ago, we approached one of our holdings, a very large wind turbine manufacturer, regarding their lack of strategy on biodiversity.  By collaborating with three other investors, we initiated a dialogue with the company. They not only acknowledged the gap but welcomed our expertise and networks to co-develop a path forward.”

In another example, Clarke helped a UK healthcare company become the first listed B Corp in the FTSE 250, with over 99% of votes supporting the resolution.

Behar emphasizes that real change happens when shareholders unite: "When shareholders speak with a unified voice, companies listen—and that’s when we see results" He points to recent 98% and 99% support for management to maintain current workforce diversity programs and practices at Disney, Costco, Visa, Apple, Deere, Boeing, Goldman Sachs, Levi’s, AMEX, Coca-Cola, Berkshire Hathaway, Bristol Myers, and Gilead —over $4.1 trillion in asset voted to overwhelmingly support diversity initiatives despite political pressure.

Tools for Impact Investors

For individual investors feeling overwhelmed, there are practical solutions. As You Sow’s organization created As You Vote, a service that helps shareholders align voting with their values.

"For people who just don't vote, it's incredible," Behar explains. "At the Exxon election in 2021, if all the individuals who owned Exxon shares who didn't vote had voted for the Engine No. One directors, we would have had a majority."

The system is straightforward: “You select a voting profile aligned with justice and a livable  planet and the votes are filled into your ballot. Currently most people get an email from their custodian saying, 'Time to vote your Apple shares.' Now you'll get an email saying, 'Thank you for voting your Apple shares.' You can also click the link and customize if you like or just set it and forget it.”

Clarke adds that investors working through wealth managers should "interrogate how the wealth managers might be voting themselves when holding direct stocks, and how they're interrogating the voting records of fund managers they work through."

Trust, Agency, and the Road Ahead

In the face of political pushback and regulatory uncertainty, it’s easy to feel that the window for meaningful shareholder influence is narrowing. But for Clarke and Behar, the message is clear: this is not the time to step back. It’s a time to double down on strategy, collaboration, and using the power we already have.

"The companies that voluntarily continue to disclose, engage, and build trust with investors are those that will lead," says Behar. "Because trust is fast becoming the most valuable commodity in today’s markets."

Clarke agrees: "You're going to see the better management teams come through in business, but you're also going to see the better investors come through as well—those who understand this is fundamentally about driving trust, recognizing and managing risk, and seizing the opportunity to get first-mover advantage."

For impact investors feeling uncertain about their power in this environment, Behar offers a memorable closing thought: "It's your money. It's your power. I often tell people, 'Click your heels together, Dorothy. You're already home. Our job is to let people know that having money is the same as wearing ruby slippers” As Behar put it in closing, “You don’t have to wait for permission. You don’t have to wonder if it’s your role. It’s your money. It’s your power. The only question is how you’ll choose to use it.”

“You don’t have to wait for permission. You don’t have to wonder if it’s your role. It’s your money. It’s your power. The only question is how you’ll choose to use it.”

This thought piece reflects a Toniic community conversation, written by John Berger and collaboratively edited by ChiaYen Gan and Dario Parziale.