Posts tagged climate change
How concentrated ownership in the food system increases risk – and what we can do about it

Iconic foods like Georgia peaches, Florida oranges, and Ecuadorian chocolate are threatened by increasing weather extremes and shifting climates. As You Sow has documented the trend in a recent report and an accompanying article, climate change is driving up the cost of food products including olive oil, coffee, rice, and other staples.  Read More

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Big tech’s fossil fuel investments cost workers billions: Report

“We know fossil fuels have underperformed over the last decade, so the results shouldn’t be surprising,” said As You Sow CEO Andrew Behar. “What’s surprising is that nearly every retirement plan is invested in the extractive economy, which runs counter to the values of the people who earn the money while reducing their retirement savings.”   Read More →

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Top Polluters Fail to Tie CEO Pay to Carbon-Cutting Goals

As You Sow analyzed the 2021 chief executive officer compensation packages of 47 US companies included in the Climate Action 100+ initiative, an investor-led program to ensure the world’s largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters curb their footprints. It found that many firms didn’t tie CEO pay to climate metrics, and when they did, it’s wasn’t to a level that would prompt bosses to meaningfully reduce emissions. Read More →

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Warren Buffett Faces Renewed Climate Change Challenge by Investors

“Both Duke and Dominion are now leading energy companies on this front,” said Danielle Fugere, president of As You Sow, the shareholder advocacy group that represented investors on recent shareholder proposals on climate change at those companies. The proposals were withdrawn after the companies revamped their climate plans. Read More →

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Greenwashing 101: How to decipher corporate claims about climate

Two shareholder groups, Green Century Capital Management and As You Sow, are pushing Travelers to measure and report emissions generated by its customers and investments. Without understanding this broader carbon footprint, the groups say, Travelers cannot know how it is exposed to the likely financial risks of increasing climate catastrophes. Read More—>

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What Do the New SEC Rules Mean for Action on Climate Change?

For far too long, the Securities and Exchange Commission—the nation’s top Wall Street watchdog—has responded only tepidly to the global climate crisis. This week, that finally changed. On Monday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted three-to-one to issue draft rules that will require publicly traded corporations to be more transparent with investors about their greenhouse gas emissions and how climate change may pose a risk to their businesses. Read More →

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Earth-saving promises in ESG fund prospectuses aren’t all that green: report

The University of California, San Diego, and the nonprofit sustainable-investing advocacy group As You Sow concluded that the linguistic patterns found in mutual fund and ETF prospectus language they reviewed has a relatively low correlation with its ESG rating. The collaborating teams spent four months analyzing 94 mutual funds and ETFs with “ESG” in their name.

“We see funds with ESG in their names getting F’s on our screening tools because they hold dozens of fossil fuel-extraction companies and coal-fired utilities,” said As You Sow CEO Andrew Behar.

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Shareholder climate activists aim for ‘watershed year’

"The theme is that investors are looking to all of their companies to address climate risk," said Danielle Fugere, the president and chief counsel of As You Sow.

Last year, 14 ESG resolutions backed by the sustainability advocacy group were voted on by shareholders of some of the nation’s largest companies, according to data compiled by the Manhattan Institute think tank. More than a quarter of As You Sow’s proposals were supported by those investors.

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This San Diego energy company is doubling down on fossil fuels

“The company is just very much wedded to natural gas being part of reducing emissions,” said Daniel Stewart, a program manager at As You Sow, a nonprofit that works with corporate shareholders to advocate for stronger climate action. “From investors’ side, there’s just an increasing level of skepticism about what sort of role natural gas can play.” Read More →

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GE Sets 2050 Goal of Zero Emissions From Jet Engines, Gas Power

The new objective comes after GE investors in May overwhelmingly backed a shareholder proposal pushing the company to say whether it planned to reach net-zero by 2050. As You Sow, the shareholder advocacy group behind the push, also pushed the company to include emissions from the use of its products and its supply chain in its net zero goal, saying the company had been slow to address this category, undoubtedly the largest associated with the company. Read More →

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Corporations Pressed to Adapt to Climate Change Threat

Danielle Fugere is the president of the group As You Sow, which focuses on shareholder activism. She said it's a market reality that the world is taking climate change seriously. She said she thinks businesses should join the movement, instead of putting up a fight. "Because as climate change occurs, it impacts every company globally," said Fugere. "It makes it much more difficult to maintain business." Read More →

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After railroad vote, climate resolutions pick up steam

"Given the growing consensus on the material risks related to the climate crisis, investors seek assurance that company lobbying activities support, and do not block, policy solutions designed to help markets decarbonize," Lila Holzman, an energy expert at the shareholder advocacy group As You Sow, said in an email. "It is no surprise that shareholder resolutions on this topic are seeing record high votes this year, and we absolutely expect this trend to continue." Read More →

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