KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Accelerated industrialization of the Asia Pacific (APAC) region has come with negative consequences in terms of sustainability and social protection.
• Materials, Industrials and Consumer Staples are the three industry groups with the highest number of controversies-related engagements facilitated by ISS ESG’s Pooled Engagement service. In all three industry groups, the human rights norms area dominated, representing 42%, 37% and 36% of all topics per industry group respectively.
• Communication Services, Utilities, and Materials are the industry groups with the highest number of successful engagements. The issue of Human Rights dominated in each of these industry groups, representing 40% of all successful engagements facilitated.
• With more than 20 active stewardship codes globally, including 9 in the APAC region, investors have received more clarity on the implementation of their fiduciary obligations. Japan spearheaded the development of stewardship codes in Asia with the region’s first in 2014. This code has been embraced by Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), one of the largest asset owners in the world.
• ISS ESG’s Stewardship and Engagement team has been supporting pooled investor dialogue in the APAC for over a decade, where breaches of human rights and environmental norms have dominated the engagement discussion.