Key Takeaways
As we have seen over time, institutional investors—both asset owners and managers—face rising expectations to demonstrate alignment between voting practices, stewardship priorities and long-term value creation. Globally, clients, regulators and voluntary initiatives are converging on common principles: alignment with client objectives, integration with investment strategies, demonstrable outcomes, and transparency. At the same time, regional expectations are diverging in how fiduciary duty, sustainability, and stewardship priorities should be reflected through proxy voting.
This article explores these evolving proxy voting expectations, highlighting how our insights, technology and services can help investors meet rising stewardship demands more effectively.
Clients and Beneficiaries
Asset owners are seeking greater alignment between their values, investment objectives and voting efforts. Expectations have expanded beyond voting policies to include detailed post-season reporting covering outcomes, rationales and follow-ups.
With growing divergence across markets, investors are navigating a complex mix of regional client and regulatory demands. This challenging operating environment requires enabling resources — spanning human capital, technology and data management. Glass Lewis empowers investors with needed infrastructure and reporting capabilities to help streamline these processes and meet such expectations.
Global Frameworks Shaping Expectations
Voluntary initiatives and evolving regulatory expectations continue to raise the bar for more outcome-oriented and evidence-based stewardship.
The UN Principles for Responsible Investing (PRI) view proxy voting as integral to active ownership, connecting votes with engagement outcomes and long-term investment goals. Its 2026 reporting framework covers areas such as disclosure of voting decisions, communication of voting rationales and escalation tactics. Read more in our guide and indicator mapping of the updated framework against Glass Lewis' services.
Stewardship Codes like the International Corporate Governance Network Global Stewardship Principles and the updated UK Stewardship Code advocate for outcome-oriented voting practices and robust reporting. These frameworks increasingly expect investors to explain how voting activity supports stewardship outcomes and long-term value creation, while disclosing key votes and rationales.
Glass Lewis’ nuanced research provides important perspectives, while our technology platforms empower engagement and voting data management, workflows and reporting.
United States
The U.S. proxy voting environment has been closely observed in recent years, particularly around environmental and social shareholder proposals. At the same time, evolving Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) guidance on shareholder proposals has allowed companies to exclude proposals from ballots, contributing to a changing shareholder proposal landscape. In parallel, SEC amendments to Form N-PX have introduced more detailed and standardized proxy voting disclosure requirements for investment managers, further reinforcing expectations around transparency, accountability, and alignment between voting activity and fiduciary obligations.
Glass Lewis’ extensive reporting capabilities support compliance with evolving disclosure requirements, including dedicated data formats and file preparation for Form N-PX reporting.
Canada
Canadian investors face growing expectations around board diversity, Indigenous rights, climate transition oversight and environmental stewardship, especially in resource-heavy sectors. Proxy voting is increasingly used to address issues such as climate transition planning, Indigenous consultation, and biodiversity impacts in related industries.
Regulators and organizations like the Canadian Securities Administrators and Responsible Investment Association Canada emphasize the need for transparency on how voting decisions support stewardship priorities and link to engagement efforts. In addition, Canadian investment funds remain subject to annual proxy voting disclosure requirements under NI 81-106, reinforcing expectations for transparent reporting of stewardship activities.
Glass Lewis’ market-specific analysis and insights help inform investor decision-making across a broad range of topics.
Europe
The Shareholder Rights Directive II (SRD II) mandates detailed voting disclosures, including publication of voting policies, vote rationales, explanations of significant votes, and alignment with investment strategy. Given how many investors are globally diversified, these disclosure requirements apply to many investors worldwide.
In addition to SRD II, the EU’s sustainable investment regulations, including the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation and the EU Taxonomy, incorporate stewardship considerations, such as using engagement and voting as “actions taken” to mitigate Principal Adverse Impacts. Read more in our article on SFDR and the EU Taxonomy.
In parallel, the European Securities and Market Authority’s guidelines on ESG and sustainability-related fund names are increasing expectations that stewardship activities, including voting and engagement, remain consistent with stated investment objectives and sustainability claims.
Glass Lewis’ advanced voting and engagement tracking tools enable customized data capture and reporting to fulfil different stakeholder expectations.
United Kingdom
Beyond the updated UK Stewardship Code, the broader UK investment landscape imposes additional expectations on voting behavior, particularly through guidance from Pensions UK and initiatives led by the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Vote Reporting Group in collaboration with the FCA and Department for Work and Pension.
The Pensions UK Stewardship and Voting Guidelines provide recommendations for UK pension schemes, trustees and asset managers covering for example climate change, remuneration, workforce issues, cybersecurity and AI oversight. In parallel, the Vote Reporting Group has developed a standardized vote reporting template intended to improve comparability, benchmarking and accountability across stewardship disclosures.
With Glass Lewis’ highly customizable Engagement Management Platform, clients can structure tables and exports to meet these template requirements.
Australia
The Australian market has seen increased shareholder activism, particularly on climate governance, remuneration and Indigenous rights. Updated Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI) Governance Guidelines continue to emphasize integration between proxy voting and long-term stewardship strategy, alongside regulatory expectations from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) around governance and sustainability-related disclosures.
Guided by ACSI and regulatory signals from ASIC, proxy voting is increasingly tied to stewardship expectations and active shareholder dialogue. Investors are expected to address climate risk, diversity, remuneration alignment, Indigenous engagement and modern slavery oversight through voting practices.
Glass Lewis’ extensive research capabilities and range of custom and thematic voting policies empower investors to implement their unique values and objectives.
Japan
Japan’s revised Stewardship Code and ongoing corporate governance reforms continue to align the market more closely with international stewardship standards, encouraging investors to engage proactively and disclose voting activity. At the same time, there remains continued pressure on foreign investors to balance stewardship expectations with sensitivity to local market practices and governance dynamics.
Institutional investors are increasingly expected to disclose voting policies linked to sustainable corporate growth, support improvements in board independence and diversity, address cross-shareholdings, and publish stewardship reports demonstrating links between engagement and voting outcomes.
Glass Lewis’ voting services help investors operationalize the voting process from policy implementation and vote execution to records management and reporting.
Conclusion: Integration and Transparency as the New Normal
Proxy voting has become a litmus test for stewardship credibility. Investors are no longer judged only on whether or why they vote, but increasingly on how voting decisions align with investment objectives, client mandates, engagement priorities and long-term outcomes.
Across regions, investors are expected to demonstrate clearer links between voting activity, investment priorities, stewardship strategy and engagement outcomes. Yet regional divergence is also increasing, particularly regarding sustainability-related voting expectations and interpretations of fiduciary duty. In response, investors are placing greater emphasis on evidence-based voting practices, transparency and reporting frameworks that can withstand scrutiny from clients, regulators and broader stakeholders.
Want to discuss how Glass Lewis can support your stewardship strategy across engagement, voting, and technology? Talk to an expert.
