Marcela I. Pinilla
Director of Sustainable Investing
Download Q1 2025 Impact Update.
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.
How are We responding?
Diversity, equity, and inclusion open doors to opportunity and support, rather than dictating hiring decisions. In response to the administration’s recent Executive Order directing agencies to terminate all diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility programs, we have directed letters to every portfolio company, including international holdings with US operations, with the objective of understanding how their management teams are mitigating the risk of violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which protects against disparate treatment in the workplace. In our letter, we argue that companies should consider the increased risk of litigation if they scale back initiatives around fair pay, ensuring a harassment-free workplace, upholding collective bargaining agreements, and ensuring a diverse talent pool. In our letter, we argue that companies should consider the increased risk of litigation if they scale back initiatives around fair pay, ensuring a harassment-free workplace, upholding collective bargaining agreements, and ensuring a diverse talent pool.
Proxy season 2025: Some corporate dialogues remain productive
In this first quarter of 2025, we have continued our conversations with companies in our client portfolios. It is likely that the forces at work will limit our ability to file shareholder proposals next year, with higher ownership thresholds and deference to companies on whether proposals should appear in the company’s proxy statement. This proxy season, a number of companies have already moved quickly to exclude shareholder proposals that have been acceptable in years past.
Despite the headwinds, we have made progress with AbbVie and Apple, securing greater transparency in lobbying spending. Our multi-year engagement with AbbVie’s senior leadership has brought about substantial improvements to its lobbying spending disclosure. AbbVie also chose not to renew its membership of four problematic trade associations. Likewise, with Apple, we agreed that regular dialogues with senior management would be valuable as we monitor corporate behaviors and policy evolution. In both cases, we agreed to continue engagement, especially around these companies’ indirect/dark money lobbying activities.
We were pleased that Microsoft continues to engage with its shareholders on quarterly discussions on important social issues. Recent engagements with Microsoft raised concerns that the company’s enterprise cloud and AI technologies licensed to US law enforcement agencies can enable discriminatory policing and incarceration. The dialogue led to Microsoft’s agreement to conduct a human rights impact assessment (HRIA) to identify and address actual or potential adverse human rights impacts of the company’s products and services to law enforcement, immigration enforcement, and other government contracts. While the report recommendations did not have the depth that we hoped, this quarter we continued to urge Microsoft to implement the recommendations made in the report and to develop a clear strategy to prevent harm from the misuse of its products.
By contrast, our engagement with Amazon has been markedly less productive. We co-filed a proposal asking for an independent, third-party assessment of Amazon’s adherence to its stated commitment to workers’ freedom of association and collective bargaining rights. However, Amazon has exercised its new discretion to exclude the proposal from its proxy statement.
Despite numerous sources revealing the company’s continued pattern of anti-competitive behaviors, surveillance and micro-management of workers, as well as mediocre health and safety records, the company has insisted on using only its own data to evaluate its performance. Last year, a Senate report alleged that Amazon regularly cherry-picks data to report and ignores its own findings on the health impacts of its work quota requirements. OSHA inspections and investigations found that Amazon warehouse workers were nearly twice as likely to get injured at an Amazon facility compared to the industry baseline—a fact that is supported by worker testimonies.
Human mobility and US immigration
The latest wave of actions resulting from the administration’s anti-immigrant policies presents serious risks to economic growth and workforce stability, as well as to fundamental human rights and racial justice. Sound and just immigration policies are essential for business certainty, operational continuity, and economic expansion. As members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, we call on members of Congress, corporate leaders, and institutional investors to champion immigration reform that aligns with our country’s founding values and with federal and international human rights law. See the statement here.
Our commitment
At Zevin Asset Management, our fiduciary duty remains clear: to invest according to our principles while protecting and enhancing long-term shareholder value on behalf of our clients. Investing with sustainability at the forefront is not just our approach—it is our enduring commitment. Our strength lies in our diverse networks and coalitions, encompassing individuals of all races, faiths, and backgrounds. From Black, White, Latino, Asian, and Indigenous communities to LGBTQ+ individuals, women, and people with disabilities, we stand alongside those who have historically fought for civil rights and those who share our vision of an inclusive, equitable United States.
Thank you for reading and sharing. For more on this work and our broader advocacy, visit our website, and join us on LinkedIn. And please don’t hesitate to contact Marcela Pinilla, Zevin Asset Management’s director of sustainable investing, at marcela@zevin.com with your questions, thoughts, and suggestions.
Disclosures: Registration with the SEC should not be construed as an endorsement or an indicator of investment skill, acumen, or experience. Investments in securities are not insured, protected or guaranteed and may result in loss of income and/or principal. This communication is distributed for informational purposes, and it is not to be construed as an offer, solicitation, recommendation, or endorsement of any particular security, products, or services. Nothing in this communication is intended to be or should be construed as individualized investment advice. All content is of a general nature and solely for educational, informational, and illustrative purposes. Unless stated otherwise, any mention of specific securities or investments is for illustrative purposes only. Adviser’s clients may or may not hold the securities discussed in their portfolios. Adviser makes no representations that any of the securities discussed have been or will be profitable. The listing of organizations or initiatives should not be construed as an endorsement or a recommendation to retain Adviser by these entities. Certified B Corp status is, at least in part, based on responses provided to B Lab by Zevin Asset Management. Zevin Asset Management pays annual membership dues to B Lab, which is a requirement for eligibility in B Lab results. Certified B Corp status requires an assessment of companies’ positive impact on workers, community, customers, and environment (Criteria: https://bcorporation.net/certification/meet-the-requirements).