- In countries like the USA, investors have been using their rights to quietly reshape how business gets done.
- Last year, shareholders used their rights to push America's largest supermarket chain Kroger to better address the risk of illegal deforestation in their supply chain.
- There's much that Australian shareholders can learn from their American counterparts on using shareholder power to align investments with values.
- The Australian Save the Skate campaign, led by SIX and a coalition of leading NGOs and ethical advisers, embodies many of these lessons.
In this joint opinion piece between SIX and As You Sow, America's non-profit leader in shareholder advocacy, we reflect on how shareholders using their rights to ensure companies better manage environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors just makes good business sense.
With shareholdings comes ownership and rights
Picture this: You've just finished your morning coffee and checked your retirement account balance. Your super fund, that company stock, maybe some index funds - you're not just watching numbers on a screen. You're actually a part owner of some of the world's most powerful companies. And here's the part most people don’t realise: you have legal rights that come with that ownership.
Elsewhere in the world, investors have been using these rights to quietly reshape how business gets done. Now Australian companies are increasingly facing up to investors using these tools too.
When it comes to the supermarket giants, America's largest supermarket chain Kroger has been a lot more responsive in facing up to shareholder concerns than Australia's own Woolworths and Coles.
Kroger shareholders in USA speak up on deforestation
Last year Kroger found itself facing a question from its own shareholders: Could you please explain how you're making sure the avocados you sell aren't linked to illegal deforestation in Mexico? It wasn't environmental activists asking - it was investors concerned about business risks that could hurt their returns.
The question mattered because Mexico supplies nearly 90 percent of America's avocados, but the industry had created a hidden problem. Satellite imagery revealed that more than ten football fields of Mexican forests were being cleared daily for avocado orchards, much of it violating federal law. For companies like Kroger, this meant a brand linked to the destruction, potential lawsuits, regulatory problems, and the kind of supply chain disruptions that could hurt stock prices.
Kroger's response? They agreed to strengthen their monitoring systems. With an agreement reached, shareholders were able to withdraw the resolution. Problem solved through what Fortune 500 CEOs now call "stakeholder capitalism" - the recognition that smart business requires thinking beyond quarterly profits.
The turning point for the USA came in 2019, when 181 CEOs that make up the Business Roundtable - representing the USA's most powerful corporations - signed the “New Purpose of a Corporation” that takes a more holistic approach considering the interests of customers, employees, suppliers, communities, and shareholders.
Executives realized that ignoring environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors was essentially stealing from shareholders by pushing costs onto communities and the environment - costs that would eventually come back to hurt the company.
Organisations like As You Sow have spent over three decades finding win-wins by helping companies identify and manage business risks before they become risky and costly problems, helping everyday investors understand their legal rights and protect their investments, and helping the planet by promoting business practices that work for the long term.
The approach works because it's collaborative: when shareholders raise concerns about business risks, companies gain valuable insights about potential blind spots in their operations. When they don't listen, shareholders can escalate by filing formal resolutions that are voted on by all investors at Annual General Meetings (AGMs) - not to punish companies, but to ensure the adoption of smart business practices that benefit everyone.
Applying lessons to Save the Skate campaign in Australia
In Australia, the same principle played out around a creature that's survived since the time of dinosaurs: the Maugean Skate, a ray found only in Tasmania's Macquarie Harbour. Intensive salmon farming had depleted oxygen levels in the Skate’s habitat, pushing this ancient species toward extinction while creating serious business risks for companies throughout the supply chain.
A coalition including SIX, Australia's first ethical share trading platform; NGOs Environment Tasmania, Neighbours of Fish Farming, and Ekō; the Reichstein Foundation; and ethical advice groups Ethinvest, Ethical Investment Advisers and Tasethical all recognized something important: preventing the skate's extinction wasn't just the right thing to do ecologically - it was also the smart business move. Companies linked to an extinction event would face massive reputational damage and potential regulatory crackdowns.
Rather than targeting salmon farmers directly, they focused on supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths - major salmon customers who understood that being associated with driving a species extinct would be a business disaster. The coalition brought their concerns to shareholder votes, framing it as both an ecological crisis and a supply chain risk that needed immediate attention.
The results spoke volumes: 30% of Woolworths shareholders and 39% of Coles shareholders supported resolutions calling for better supply chain risk management to prevent the extinction. In the USA, results this high would generally result in the company taking some action; disappointingly, in the wake of the AGMs neither company responded with the urgency the Skate and investors need. In September 2025, Coles did publicly recognise salmon farming as a threat to the Maugean Skate, disclosing impacts in their Sustainability Report which put the Save the Skate coalition in a position to withdraw one of the multiple resolutions Coles received. All resolutions still stand at Woolworths, and both supermarkets have a long way to go from here.
Those results revealed something crucial about modern business; a shareholder vote shines a bright light on potential business risks. In the U.S., shareholder resolutions often lead to policy changes within two years because companies recognize that shareholders' concerns have merit and are good for business - so they find a solution before a problem escalates.
Shareholder advocacy makes good business sense
This approach matters because corporations shape so much of our world. Of the globe's 100 largest economies, 69 are companies, not countries. These businesses make decisions that affect everything from local water supplies to global carbon emissions. While governments regulate and consumers vote with their wallets, shareholders have a unique position: they're literally the owners, with legal standing to raise concerns directly with management.
The opportunity extends far beyond environmental risks to worker productivity, supply chain transparency, and corporate governance - all factors that affect whether your portfolio grows over time.
For everyday people seeking ways to make their investments work smarter, shareholder engagement offers a direct pathway to company decision-makers. Every dollar you invest represents a vote for the kind of business practices you want to see.
While political debates continue over corporate responsibility, ordinary shareholders are proving that change can happen through existing business structures. This approach works because it harnesses market forces while pushing for business practices that protect long-term value.
The question isn't whether more people will discover they have these legal ownership rights. The question is how quickly they'll realise they can use them to ensure their money shapes the world in a positive way and contributes to big impact.
About the authors:
With a diverse background spanning sustainable agriculture, environmental education, and academic research, Kendyl Van Dyck brings a multidisciplinary approach to her role as a consultant for the Environmental Health and Biodiversity programs at As You Sow. Kendyl holds a Master of Science degree in Environmental Studies with an emphasis in agroecology and food systems from the University of Montana, where she also taught undergraduate composition. Her experience includes farming on family-owned, small-scale, organic vegetable farms in Western Washington, providing USDA organic certification assistance, teaching environmental education, and managing the Alpine Lakes Collaborative in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service.
Phoebe Rountree is Campaigns Manager at SIX, Australia's first and only ethical sharing trading platform, and a proud Gulidjan woman. She grew up next to the Dandenong Ranges National Park in Victoria, and hold a Master of Environments degrees (Sustainable Cities, Sustainable Regions) from the University of Melbourne. Prior to joining SIX, Phoebe spent a decade working in environmental NGOs such as Australian Youth Climate Coalition and Australian Conservation Foundation, supporting community members to become advocates for climate and nature protection.
