In a public comment letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) yesterday, the U.S. Impact Investing Alliance shared support for proposed rules that will allow shareholders to engage corporations more effectively.

The proposal would amend Rule 14a-8, revising the bases for exclusion of shareholder proposals in a company’s proxy materials. We believe these refinements are beneficial to shareholder engagement rights, given that they will bring more objectivity and consistency to the proposal exclusion process.

In drafting the final rule, we urge the SEC to pay special attention to ensuring objective consideration of shareholder proposals related to systemic risk topics, such as workforce diversity, compensation practices and exposure to climate-related financial risks.