Active Shareowner Update
Second Quarter 2026
Boston Common’s stewardship work is a core component of how we serve our clients. Each quarter, our Active Shareowner Update reports on our ongoing shareholder advocacy work.
As new technologies, regulatory expectations, and sustainability risks continue to evolve, stewardship helps investors understand how companies are preparing for what comes next. This quarter, we highlight recent engagements that illustrate how governance, transparency, and risk oversight are becoming increasingly important across AI, healthcare, and biodiversity.
2025 Stewardship Report Released
Through direct company engagement, proxy voting, shareholder proposals, and collaborative investor initiatives, Boston Common participates in a broad community of investors seeking to strengthen corporate governance, improve risk management, and encourage greater transparency on issues that can influence long-term shareholder value.
Our 2025 Stewardship Report highlights how we engaged portfolio companies on issues shaping today’s investment landscape, including climate transition, responsible artificial intelligence, nature-related risks, human capital and human rights, and corporate governance. It also provides an overview of our proxy voting activities and the stewardship priorities guiding our work in 2026.
Active ownership is a long-term commitment. Many of our engagements span multiple years, enabling us to build constructive relationships with companies, monitor progress over time, and encourage practical improvements that support resilient business performance.
We invite you to explore the report to learn more about our stewardship approach and engagement outcomes.
AI Stewardship & Engagement
First Half of 2026
By: Lauren Compere, Head of Stewardship and Engagement
Responsible AI governance is rapidly becoming a core stewardship priority across sectors. In this update, Lauren Compere examines emerging global frameworks, evolving investor expectations, and recent engagements with companies deploying AI at scale, highlighting practical opportunities to strengthen governance, transparency, and accountability.
AI Governance and Digital Human Rights
By: Amy Orr, Director of US Shareholder Engagement
As AI becomes more deeply embedded in products, services, and government operations, investors are increasingly focused on how companies govern the human rights risks associated with high-risk AI use cases. In this article, Amy Orr examines Boston Common’s engagements with Verizon, Alphabet, and The Home Depot, highlighting our expectations for stronger governance, greater transparency, and more effective oversight of AI-enabled surveillance and digital human rights risks.
Closing the Women’s Health Gap
Initial Insights from Investor Engagement with Pharmaceuticals
By Khine Thant, Sustainability Research Analyst
Women’s health is emerging as an important area of innovation, investment, and stewardship across the pharmaceutical sector. In this article, Khine Thant examines Boston Common’s engagements with Merck, Roche, and Novartis, highlighting the governance, clinical trial, and disclosure practices that can help close persistent gaps in women’s health while strengthening long-term value creation.
The Evolving Governance of Nature Risks
Biodiversity Assessment 2.0
By Amy Orr, Director of US Shareholder Engagement
As investor expectations and disclosure frameworks continue to evolve, companies are being asked to demonstrate not only how they measure biodiversity impacts, but how they govern nature-related risks. Amy Orr examines Boston Common’s updated biodiversity engagement strategy and the governance practices we believe will define leading companies in the years ahead.
This piece is intended as an editorial review of a survey of risk considerations and does not constitute investment advice, a solicitation, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Past performance does not guarantee future results. All investments involve risk, including the risk of loss of principal.
Company developments described in this report occurred during the period of our engagement but should not be assumed to have resulted from Boston Common’s activities. Where we believe our engagement contributed to a development, we describe the basis for that assessment.
References to third-party research, publications, and data sources are provided for informational purposes only. Boston Common Asset Management does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of third-party information cited herein. Readers should consult original sources and qualified professional advisors before making any investment decision.
