Investor Stewardship in an Uncertain World

About the event

For an ever-growing number of investors, investor stewardship – the responsible allocation of capital and purposeful engagement – stands at the heart of their investment practices. What it precisely means, however, to be an effective steward of capital is hardly a settled matter. On the one hand, recent years have seen the soft-law principles of investment stewardship continue to develop in the UK and abroad and an increasing number of regulatory initiatives have been introduced with the aim to foster the efficient inclusion of sustainability in investment management and corporate governance.

On the other hand, the economic and social challenges facing the commercial world are ever in flux and the last number of years have seen changes in stewardship reporting and practices with the unprecedented uncertainties posed by Covid-19, climate change and global conflicts. This conference took stock of how investor stewardship has come to be understood and practised by investors who have taken up the mantle of stewardship over the last two years. This brings together regulators, academics and practitioners to discuss the challenges to the effective implementation of investor stewardship in times of uncertainty and how to plan for the future.

The conference was concluded with the book launch of “Global Shareholder Stewardship”, an edited book which provides a cutting-edge and comprehensive understanding of global shareholder stewardship which challenges existing theories and challenges many of the most important debates in comparative law and governance.

The event was organised by the Dickson Poon School of Law at King's College London in collaboration with the British Academy and ECGI and is part of the Global Shareholder Stewardship project.