Shareholder report available Dec. 18

The 2014 Annual Report of the Corporation Committee on Shareholder Responsibility (CCSR), a subcommittee of the President and Fellows, is now available on the Shareholder Responsibility Committees’ website.

The report provides a detailed description of the CCSR’s actions on shareholder proposals regarding issues of social responsibility that came to vote during the 2014 spring proxy voting season (the period between March and June when most publicly traded corporations hold annual meetings). This year, the committees considered 56 proposals dealing with a wide range of issues of social responsibility, from company efforts to address global warming to adoption of policies for recycling; human rights; equal employment; corporate political contributions and lobbying; corporate charitable contributions; executive compensation; mortgage lending practices; and Internet policies regarding advertising, privacy, and neutrality.

New topics addressed in 2014 included fast-food marketing practices and their possible connection to childhood obesity; corporate exposure to climate-change risk through lending, investing, and financing activities; and the development of principles to assess the impact of corporate tax strategies.

The CCSR receives advice from the Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility, a 12-member committee made up of Harvard faculty, students, and alumni.