In an era where shareholder rights are increasingly under threat, Zevin Asset Management remains steadfast in advocating for corporate environmental, social, and governance practices that safeguard long-term shareholder value. We resist the criminalization of advocacy and coalition-building to suppress dissent, silence opposition, and entrench power. Diversity is not illegal. Protecting civil rights is not illegal. Coalition-building is not illegal.

The misleading narratives we encounter today echo the “Newspeak” of George Orwell’s 1984—language crafted to “narrow the scope of thought.” These narratives seek to distort perceptions of equity and inclusion and obscure their purpose. Even the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, for example, an agency long tasked with ensuring fair hiring practices and workplace protections, now frames their dismantling of diversity, equity, and inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) initiatives as a protective measure for workers, using convoluted reasoning to justify the erosion of diversity policies and falsely equating inclusion efforts with segregation or reverse discrimination.

This proxy season we continued our active ownership while also preparing for a more politically charged environment towards social and environmental equity and justice.

As federal agencies’ enforcement abilities are undermined, civil society and market players should be engaged more than ever. Despite the legal challenges and imminent threat from the new administration to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and its national ban of noncompetes, we filed an amicus brief with New York City’s Comptroller and the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), to register our investor view for keeping the ban to enable wage growth and job mobility. Currently, only a few states have banned noncompetes.

This quarter, Zevin Asset Management continued to share our perspective on racial equity investing, filed our first resolution of the season, and sent letters to pharmaceutical companies and their trade associations to advance health equity. In other news, we continue to defend corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives against political headwinds and have joined global efforts to protect our fragile biodiversity.

This quarter, we published our fourth impact report, a collection of our firm’s advocacy activities, results, and reflections on the past two years. As we look to this past quarter and wrap up the proxy season, we also carry forward the progress we have made in several areas, while doubling down on corporate workforce issues. As ever, our analysis of corporate environmental, social and governance-related risks is informed by stakeholders on the frontlines of the impacts.

Zevin Asset Management proudly publishes our fourth comprehensive review of the positive impact we have contributed to creating on behalf of, and thanks to, our clients during the reporting period (the 2022-2023 proxy seasons). We invite you to download Impact Report 2024 to learn about Zevin Asset Management’s authentic approach to impact, how we have helped advance urgent issue areas — such as climate change, racial equity, and corporate lobbying alignment — and much more.