New York City Comptroller Brad Lander[i] recently urged three of the city’s pension funds to drop BlackRock, Fidelity, and PanAgora because of “inadequate” climate plans. In September 2025, PFZW[ii], the 11th biggest pension fund in the world withdrew €14.5bn from BlackRock on sustainability concerns. And in August 2025, 17 Democratic state and local financial officers wrote to 17 asset managers[iii] critiquing their “retreat from long-term risk management”.

There is a growing number of asset owners looking to review their managers’ stewardship programs, and examining proxy voting records is an essential part of that review. This article seeks to offer asset owners data into how their managers’ 2025 proxy voting on director elections and environmental and social proposals compares to others in the industry.

Proxy voting is one of the most powerful tools an investor has to influence corporate behavior. The proxy voting data of the largest asset managers offers useful insights into how they exercise their oversight of corporate managements’ decision-making, reveals how they align their recognition of material risk with their asset owner clients and how they address significant environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks. Often times asset owners do not have access to their managers’ proxy voting data in ways that allow them to compare their managers’ voting record to that of other firms in the market – this article seeks to address that gap.

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