The Shareholder Association for Research and Education (SHARE) has released its 2010 Proxy Voting Guidelines, the association said Wednesday.

The updated guidelines are intended to assess environmental, social and governance factors to help investors exercise voting rights that build long-term shareholder value.

“Because governance standards and key proxy issues continually evolve, SHARE works with an international expert group each year to hone our voting guidelines and keep them current,” explained Peter Chapman, executive director of SHARE.

“New compensation disclosure rules and the growing number of shareholder advisory votes on executive compensation are just some of the developments covered in the 2010 SHARE Proxy Guidelines,” he added.

The guidelines provide comprehensive, standardized proxy voting instructions on corporate governance issues, such as voting for directors, executive compensation, and takeover protection for pension plans, foundations and other institutional investors. They also deal with corporate social responsibility concerns regarding issues such as dangerous products and product liability, and environmental reporting.

“SHARE’s Proxy Voting Guidelines are a valuable resource that help many pension funds, foundations and other institutional investors develop their own proxy voting policies and procedures,” said Dermot Foley, strategic analyst with Vancity Investment Managers.

Other revisions to this year’s guidelines state that companies should obtain the support of communities, referred to as “social license to operate”, including the free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples, who may be affected by projects such as the Gateway Pipeline, mines, and port expansions, before proceeding.