Corporate Australia Turns COVID Crisis Into ESG Opportunity

Corporate Australia seized the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to improve engagement with stakeholders, thus sidestepping a potential surge in dissent and conflict at annual general meetings in 2020. What became obvious as the pandemic continued into the second half of 2020 was that companies with a strong ESG focus turned out to be more resilient and were able to withstand the negative financial and non-financial impacts of COVID-19.

This is among the key findings of the newly released 2020 AGM Season Review from Australia’s leading corporate governance, investor research and engagement firm, Morrow Sodali. The report provides a snapshot of voting outcomes, trends, sentiments and reasons for shareholders voting one way or another, with focus on S&P/ASX300 companies. To download the full report, click here.