Engine No. 1 wants passive investors to VOTE with their wallets

Impact investor group Engine No 1, fresh off its climate victory over Big Oil, is gearing up to launch its first EFT under the ticker VOTE, which aims to encourage better corporate behaviour through shareholder voting rights.

Not content with roiling a major oil company and sending shock waves through the market, Engine No. 1 is looking to kick start a mini-revolution in how trillions of dollars of passive cash engages with Corporate America. The impact investment group is gearing up to launch its first exchange-traded fund, called the Engine No. 1 Transform 500 ETF. The clue as to how it hopes to shake things up? It’s in the ticker: VOTE. Instead of excluding companies with bad scores in environmental, social and governance metrics, or handing “good” companies a bigger weighting, the fund aims to encourage better behavior using its shareholder voting rights. It will follow voting guidelines aiming to get businesses to invest in employees, communities, customers and the environment, according to a filing.