Professor Sarah Haan on Corporate Democracy and the ESG Movement In article for the ProMarket blog, Haan argues that an Exxon Mobile corporate election and lawsuit shed more light on current upheavals in corporate democracy than they do on the success of the Environmental, Social, and Governance movement.

By Law Communications
July 17, 2024

Washington and Lee law professor Sarah Haan has published an article on the ProMarket blog, a forum hosted by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. In the article, “Is Democracy Relevant to the Way We Govern Public Companies?” Haan explores a lawsuit by Exxon Mobil against two investors over a proposal to include a commitment in its proxy statement to accelerate the company’s reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. She argues that the May 2024 corporate election and the lawsuit shed more light on current upheavals in corporate democracy than they do on the success of the ESG movement.

“It is tempting to view Exxon Mobil’s recent corporate election as a referendum on the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) movement, particularly since the press framed it that way. In fact, however, that election was about something else altogether: whether democracy has any relevance to the way we govern public companies in the United States,” writes Haan.

The full post is available on the ProMarket blog.

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