The Legal Framework of Shareholders Activism in Malaysia in Promoting Environmental, Sustainability and Governance (ESG)

Abstract

Environmental, sustainability and governance (ESG) are components in a corporate sustainability reporting. This paper analysed the legal framework in Malaysia to promote ESG. It employed library-based doctrinal study and comparative legal analysis in a descriptive, analytic and prescriptive manner. Despite the availability of legal framework, the shareholder’s proposal is mostly turned down in general meeting. Nevertheless, there is a growing trend of shareholders activist advocating ESG-related matters. This paper contributes to the discussion on strengthening the framework to promote ESG reporting practices in Malaysia. Keywords: ESG; shareholders activism, shareholder’s proposal, eISSN: 2398-4287© 2021. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v6i16.2663