More than 35 years for peace, protection of the environment and human rights
We are both a shareholders’ association and a non-governmental organisation: Together with our 29 member organisations from civil society, we monitor the activities of major German stock corporations. We represent 8,000 retail shareholders.
We demand from German stock corporations to respect human rights as well as climate and environmental protection. Specifically, we demand that corporations align their business activities with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement and comply with labor and human rights also in their supply and value chains. In addition to the phase-out of nuclear and fossil energy production, we focus on the expansion of and compliance with due diligence obligations of German corporations for human rights and the environment.
We actively participate in Annual General Meetings (AGMs) in Germany to raise points of criticism, also via filing counter-proposals. We ensure that affected people, grassroots movements and civil society organisations can address their criticism, demands and questions directly to the board and supervisory board members.
We focus on certain conflicts and case studies to illustrate structural problems as well as corporate accountability. Shareholders’ meetings are a strategic time to draw the media’s attention to our issues, especially now that corporations are presenting themselves as climate protectors and greenwashing needs to be exposed.
The Association of Ethical Shareholders Germany was founded in 1986 by several non-governmental organizations like environmental, human rights and anti-Apartheid groups.
Our goal is for companies to improve their environmental, social and governance standards. In particular, we demand:
- Effective and transparent implementation of climate-related, environmental and human rights due diligence obligations along value chains
- Sustainable production of goods
- Stop of arms production and export
- Nuclear-free and renewable energy production
- Living wages in all companies and their suppliers
- Promotion of women in companies
- Caps for manager salaries
- A cooling-off period when a member of the board of directors joins the supervisory board
