Marcela I. Pinilla
Director of Sustainable Investing
This quarter, the story wasn’t just about what companies are doing, or not doing, it was also about what’s being done to the rules that make companies accountable in the first place. The regulatory infrastructure that public equity investors have relied on to analyze their portfolios is being dismantled.
Regulation S-K, the framework that requires public companies to disclose information such as executive pay and political spending, is on the chopping block. These aren’t bureaucratic technicalities. They’re the windows active investors look through to understand what they actually own.
More doublespeak from the SEC
In mid-January, SEC Chair Atkins announced the agency would ask for public input on how to streamline disclosure rules — specifically, to “focus on material information” and stop “compelling disclosure of immaterial information.” That sounds sensible. It isn’t.
The real agenda, spelled out explicitly by Chair Atkins, Commissioner Uyeda, and their corporate allies: let companies decide for themselves what counts as important, and shrink the number of companies required to report fully. Commissioner Uyeda has proposed cutting the threshold from 42 percent of reporting companies to just 20 percent. Fewer companies disclosing less relevant information to investors, on their own terms. This is the direction of travel this quarter.
This is what Active Ownership looks like
Home Depot
We have held two meetings with Home Depot this quarter about a straightforward question: where does your customer data go? The company uses Flock Safety license plate readers in its parking lots, feeding data into a network shared with local law enforcement. Both say they don’t share with ICE — but investigative journalism, FOIA requests, and university research have identified thousands of immigration-related lookups through Flock’s network, often run through local police.
The problem: once data leaves Home Depot’s hands, there’s no documented way to control its use. Our shareholder proposal, backed by 17 co-filers, asks for an independent audit to address exactly that. Home Depot’s board has recommended voting against it. Its contractor network remains deeply tied to immigrant communities, and a Boycott Home Depot campaign with buy-in protests has spread across 47 states. Shareholders will vote on our proposal on May 21, 2026.
Microsoft
At Microsoft’s December annual meeting, more than 26% of shareholders backed a resolution that we co-filed on human rights due diligence — one of the strongest votes to date on issues touching Palestinian human rights. The vote followed The Guardian’s reporting that Microsoft’s Azure had been used by a unit in Israel to store millions of intercepted Palestinian phone calls. Microsoft terminated that access after its own review confirmed the findings. We met with Microsoft again this quarter pressing for a full public assessment of its human rights practices across all defense-sector relationships.
Letters and Statements we joined this quarter
· Upholding gender-equitable workplaces (Adasina Social Capital): As pressure mounts on corporate diversity, equity and inclusion programs and transgender employees face increased discrimination, this statement calls on companies to hold the line. Inclusive workplaces reduce turnover and foster cultures that innovate.
· Decent work in the digital economy (ILO Convention, ICCR): The International Labor Organization is working toward a binding global convention establishing baseline rights for gig and platform workers across 187 countries. We signed on because fair, predictable labor rules reduce regulatory and reputational risk for the companies we hold and create a level playing field that responsible businesses can build on.
· Restore the rule of law, due process, and accountability (American Sustainable Business Network): Following the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal agents during immigration protests in Minneapolis, ASBN called on Congress to defend constitutional due process. Investors and markets depend on predictable rule of law. We signed on because the erosion of due process is not a risk investors can afford to ignore.
Collaborations and contributions this quarter
· Raben Group’s Diverse Asset Manager Initiative Panel: Marcela Pinilla joined a conversation on what shifting public attitudes toward diversity, equity and inclusion mean for investors, includingphilanthropic funders.
· Data Center Roundtable, New York City: We dug into the risks that come with the AI infrastructure buildout — water use, energy sourcing, and the community relationships that make or break a data center’s social license to operate.
· Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) Meetings: Ongoing coordination with fellow investors on data privacy, immigration, and corporate governance.
· BTech Workshop at the United Nations: We joined investors, technologists, and human rights experts to examine how capital can push tech companies toward data practices that protect — rather than undermine — people’s rights.
Our commitment
The erosion of regulatory infrastructure doesn’t make the underlying environmental and social risks disappear, it makes them harder to see and analyze, and easier to ignore. Our job is to keep asking the hard questions, stay in the room with the companies that hold these risks, and take the long view even when short-term pressures push in the other direction. This is what fiduciary duty looks like to us.
Thank you for reading and sharing. For more on this work and our broader advocacy, visit our website, and join us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. And please don’t hesitate to contact Marcela Pinilla, Zevin Asset Management’s director of sustainable investing, at marcela@zevin.com with your questions, thoughts, and suggestions.
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