PDI in the News

“With the pandemic casting a harsh spotlight on social problems such as income and racial inequality, large institutional investors have kicked off a flurry of shareholder engagement campaigns designed to push companies to look out for their workers and communities. While these efforts may be noble (and may even achieve some positive results), they fail to address the role institutional investors themselves have played in creating the problems they are now seeking to fix, according to a new working paper from the Predistribution Initiative.”

[…] ““ESG and impact investing frameworks focus on issues at the portfolio company level, but they do not take into account potential negative impacts from capital structures and investors’ influence in shaping them,” write Delilah Rothenberg, Raphaele Chappe and Amanda Feldman of the Predistribution Initiative, a multi-stakeholder initiative to improve financial structures.”

As a co-convener of the Imperative 21 Systemic & Structural Changes to Finance Coalition, we invite you to join us in co-creating a better capitalism that serves all stakeholders. Click here for more info.

Inspired by the successful uptake of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), civil society, investor, and business organizations, thought leaders, academics and other stakeholders from the Global North and Global South are collaborating to launch a Task Force on Inequality-related Financial Disclosures (TIFD). TIFD aims to improve transparency on corporate and investor contributions to inequality, as well as illuminate how inequality can present risks to companies and investors. The case for TIFD is outlined in a published statement, which may be found here, and a beta version of a frequently asked questions document (FAQ) may be found here.

“Responding to growing global agitation over the effects of concentrated wealth, the Open Society Foundations announced today that 16 fellows will take part in a collaborative effort to combat economic inequality. The cohort includes experts working on building labor’s power in the digital economy, a musician-activist uplifting the voices of marginalized communities, a lawyer examining the role of the judiciary in enabling economic concentration, and a former finance industry professional looking to use shareholder influence to distribute corporate power more fairly.”

[…] “One of the questioners, Delilah Rothenberg, has just launched a project called the “Predistribution Initiative” that aims to convince asset owners to rein in investment managers’ remuneration and give back more of their profits to workers.”

A coalition of investors managing £2 trillion in assets is calling for greater workforce representation on company boards. Research from the Predistribution Initiative shows co-determined firms demonstrate steadier performance, narrower wage gaps, and stronger innovation. PDI partners Tom Powdrill at Social Governance and Caroline Escott at Railpen are also leading efforts to expand this underutilized model, arguing that workforce directors can help companies navigate major transitions while delivering better governance and long-term value.