Previous Year Questions

1. In the secondary market, evidence suggests that many of the most commonly deployed shareholder tactics aren't particularly effective.

2. In the primary market - in which investors and banks provide new capital to companies in the form of loans, bond issuances or venture capital - a very different set of tactics apply.

3. Such multiplier effects might lead to the exponential degradation of heritage and it is difficult to make predictions on fatal tipping points or to anticipate which new technical possibilities might help us protect, transform, and relocate objects.

4. Disclosure itself doesn't appear to correlate reliably with improved environmental performance, so the rare win - plus even rarer implementation - is unlikely to deliver results either, likewise, evidence about the environmental or social impact of communications between shareholders and the company on social and environmental issues is scant and inconclusive.

5. Shareholder resolutions - which involve submitting proposals that all shareholders can vote on at company AGMs - are largely advisory in nature, not binding; even if a majority of shareholders vote for them (which is rare), the implementation rate is poor, especially for those that go beyond simply disclosing something (such as the company's emissions or the number of women in senior leadership positions).