Can ESG change investor expectations and voting behavior?

The debate over ESG rages on. Companies have launched environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives in response to overwhelming investor demand, only to face an increasing backlash against some of their choices. What do investors really want, and what is the best way to channel their preferences into annual meetings, given that many hold stock through large asset managers? We explored these questions with a group of leading academics who recently won the Best Paper in ESG Award, including Hajin Kim from the University of Chicago, Jill Fisch from the University of Pennsylvania, and Jeff Schwartz from the University of Utah.

This Berkeley Boosts webinar was co-sponsored by the Berkeley Center for Law and Business (BCLB), which organized a national call for ESG papers earlier this fall. With over 70 submissions from all over the country and a workshop with the finalists, BCLB and Berkeley Law Executive Education are proud to present this research, which sits at the vanguard of current thinking on ESG.