Fast fashion and investors, big stewardship shifts and RI's proxy season digest

Fast fashion’s climate issues get little investor attention, with household names largely absent from collaborative engagement initiatives and stewardship reports.

This is despite the flurry of challenges associated with the fashion industry, which produces huge amounts of waste and is responsible for an estimated 8-10 percent of global emissions.

But with an increasing regulatory focus on greenwashing and supply chains, as well as the controversial expected IPO in London of instant fashion giant Shein, the sector’s sustainability issues could rise up the agenda of investors.

In this episode, Elza Holmstedt Pell and Gina Gambetta discuss why fast fashion is struggling to decarbonise and – drawing on insights from market participants – outline examples of what investors are (or could be) asking of their holdings in the sector. [Time stamp: 01.17]

Also in this episode, Lindsey Stewart, Morningstar Sustainalytics’ director of stewardship research and policy, talks to Elza about his observations on asset manager behaviour in the 2024 proxy season, and gives his views on recent stewardship developments by US investment giants. [16:05]

Finally, Gina sits down with RI features writer Paul Verney to talk about ESG proposal trends at AGMs this year – which new topics have emerged and how have they fared?  [29:31]