Meet ... Conrad MacKerron, Senior Vice President, As You Sow

Q5: How should sustainable investors react to 2016's political events?

"In the U.S., we need to defend against any efforts to weaken our ability to engage and file shareholder proposals with companies. Small and medium-sized shareholders, like those of many SRI firms, have often been the early warning system to companies on business risk. It is often passionate smaller investors who educate companies first on issues that could blow up eventually into big crises, like toxic ingredients, air and water pollution and waste, and supply chain labor rights. In many instances, these are brought initially to investors’ attention by committed social and religious investors."

Invest Your ValuesAs You SowApril 18, 2017Conrad MacKerron

Climate Action Is Up to the Rest of Us Now

Don’t assume mutual funds meet this standard just because they’re designated as “socially responsible.” Instead, run the funds through an online tool created by As You Sow, a group that presses for corporate responsibility. The tool makes it easy to spot fossil-fuel exposure and identify greener options.

Invest Your ValuesAs You SowNovember 29, 2016Fossil Free Funds, climate change

Is Carbon Hiding in Your Nest Egg?

That brings us back to the carbon that may be hiding in your mutual fund or 401(k). One of the pioneers in the divest/reinvest movement is the nonprofit foundation As You Sow, which works with shareholders to improve corporate accountability. It has developed a tool that finds the carbon in thousands of the most common mutual funds and retirement plans. It does the detective work instantly and cost-free with up-to-date data.

Using 401(k) retirement plans as an example, As You Sow’s explains “those funds can invest in a wide array of securities, and it’s not always easy for investors to investigate what’s inside the funds they own. You can spend hours poring over mutual fund prospectuses, and still not fully grasp everything your 401(k) is invested in. Your retirement money may be invested in economically and morally risky fossil fuel companies.”

Invest Your ValuesAs You SowNovember 14, 2016climate change, Fossil Free Funds

The carbon bubble: why investors can no longer ignore climate risks

“If what you read about stranded assets is true, it’s a potentially serious problem for regular, middle-class people who aren’t necessarily paying attention,” says Cari Rudd, a Washington DC-based communications consultant, who does social media work for Divest-Invest and sits on the board of As You Sow, an Oakland, California-based nonprofit that promotes environmental and social corporate responsibility through shareholder advocacy.

For example, As You Sow’s Fossil Free Funds, which uses data from Morningstar, is a free online tool that allows investors to type in the name or ticker of a fund and see what percentage is invested in fossil fuels. Earlier this month, the organization expanded Fossil Free Funds to include a feature that shows each fund’s carbon footprint and which companies are the main contributors. For 401k participants who don’t have direct control of selecting the funds offered in their retirement plan, As You Sow also provides advice on how to speak to their employers about expanding their company’s plan to include low-carbon options.

Invest Your ValuesAs You SowOctober 27, 2016climate change, Fossil Free Funds, Cari Rudd

UK’s dirtiest funds revealed

The ranking of 1,200 UK funds by As You Sow, a non-profit organisation, comes as concerns mount that investors could suffer big losses if companies with large carbon footprints are negatively affected by attempts to tackle climate change.

Two funds from Standard Life Investments, the Scottish asset manager, and a fund from Schroders, the UK’s largest listed asset manager, ranked among the five products with the largest carbon footprint, according to As You Sow.

The As You Sow research covered 8,500 investment products globally. Besides allowing investors to find out if they are exposed to climate change risks, it also revealed huge differences in how exposed the UK’s largest funds are to polluting industries.

Invest Your ValuesAs You SowOctober 13, 2016climate change

Your 401(k) fund could be helping to destroy the world’s precious rainforests

“We come from the shareholder-advocacy perspective. We saw a need for transparency,” says Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow, a nonprofit organization promoting corporate responsibility. As You Sow partnered with global environmentalist network Friends of the Earth to launch the database, which was inspired by a similar tool, focused on fossil fuels, designed by As You Sow in 2015.

Invest Your ValuesAs You SowSeptember 16, 2016Andrew Behar, climate change

Fiduciary responsibility and climate change

Such a goal is becoming easier than ever to achieve. Fossil-fuel holdings, once a mainstay of pension fund portfolios, have grown less relevant over the past 30 years. A recent report by As You Sow, a San Francisco think tank, explains why (“Unconventional Risks: The Growing Uncertainty of Oil Investments”). The report documents several indicators that point to increasing structural risks that include declining revenues and profits, mounting debt, and falling prices.

Invest Your ValuesAs You SowAugust 30, 2016climate change

‘Clean 200'Looks at Flip Side of Fossil Fuel Divestment

“What about the other side of the coin?” said Andrew Behar, who heads the Oakland, Calif.-based nonprofit As You Sow and helped create the ranking along with researchers at Corporate Knights. “What companies are actually taking part in what has been termed the greatest transition since the Industrial Revolution?”

Invest Your ValuesAs You SowAugust 15, 2016Andrew Behar, Carbon Clean 200 List

Toyota tops list of greenest companies for clean energy revenue

The Carbon Clean 200, established by non-profit As You Sow and green media researchers Corporate Knights, highlights that companies investing in green energy products and services are outperforming fossil fuel companies by three to one in regards to revenue performance.

As You Sow’s chief executive and co-author of the report Andrew Behar said: “Our intention with The Clean200 is to begin a conversation that defines what companies will be part of the clean energy future. The Clean200 turns the ‘carbon bubble’ inside out. The list is far from perfect, but begins to show how it’s possible to accelerate and capitalise on the greatest energy transition since the industrial revolution.

Invest Your ValuesAs You SowAugust 15, 2016Andrew Behar, Carbon Clean 200 List

Turning the Carbon Bubble Inside Out

Our global economy is undergoing the "Great Transition" from an energy system based on fossil fuels to one based on clean, renewable energy sources and technologies. So as longtime advocates for a safe, just and sustainable future, we at As You Sow decided to partner with our friends at Corporate Knights and develop the Carbon Clean 200—to start a broad and dynamic conversation about how all investors can create a clean energy economy and how best to recognize companies that are already on this path.

Invest Your ValuesAs You SowAugust 15, 2016Carbon Clean 200 List

Toyota, Tesla and Vestas ranked among world’s top green companies

The rankings are included in a report by non-profit organisation As You Sow and market research firm Corporate Knights, which plan to update the list quarterly to serve as an opposing accompaniment to the ‘Carbon Underground 200’ ranking of fossil fuel companies being targeted for divestment.

“Our intention with the Clean200 is to begin a conversation that defines what companies will be part of the clean energy future,” said Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow and the report’s co-author. “The Clean200 turns the ‘carbon bubble’ inside out. The list is far from perfect, but begins to show how it’s possible to accelerate and capitalize on the greatest energy transition since the industrial revolution.”

Invest Your ValuesAs You SowAugust 15, 2016Carbon Clean 200 List

Success And Shareholders -- Why Companies Should Engage

Since 1992, As You Sow has used shareholder advocacy to increase corporate responsibility on a broad range of environmental and social issues. As shareholder advocates, we communicate directly with corporate executives to collaboratively develop and implement business models which reduce risk, benefit brand reputation, and increase the bottom line—while simultaneously bringing positive environmental and social change.

Invest Your ValuesAs You SowJuly 24, 2016Andrew Behar

Adjectives for shareholder advocates? How about strategic, impactful

I’ll start by setting the record straight on the statistics Langert cites. He claims that As You Sow filed eight shareholder resolutions in 2015, none breaking 4 percent support and none resulting in a withdrawal. In fact, we filed or co-filed 35 resolutions in 2015, with average votes exceeding 25 percent, a strong outcome for environmentally focused shareholder resolutions.

For those resolutions where As You Sow was the lead filer, shares voted in support were valued at over $183 billion. We successfully negotiated withdrawals at Costco, Dunkin’ Brands Group and General Mills; As You Sow has a strong record of coming to agreements with companies that lead to withdrawal of shareholder resolutions. This information is readily available on our website.

Langert drew his information from the CERES data base, which is not intended to be a comprehensive list of ESG proposals but as a listing of resolutions relating to climate and some sustainability issues. A comprehensive list of ESG filings is available annually from the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) and from Proxy Preview (a publication of As You Sow with partners Si2 and Proxy Impact).

We pride ourselves on having our facts and economic analysis completely accurate in these public documents. We know that corporate attorneys will be looking for any reason to ask the SEC to not allow the resolution to go to a vote. In fact, many companies challenge resolutions whether there is cause or not. Last year As You Sow defended eight such challenges at the SEC, winning seven.

Langert suggests that As You Sow’s filing at Abbott Labs on GMOs was a "wrong target." Yet with just a 6 percent vote, the company agreed to introduce a non-GMO version of its Similac infant formula, which is now on store shelves.

As You Sow’s innovative climate resolutions sometimes earn strong votes and sometimes earn lower votes, but always introduce important new concepts to investors. For example, last year we filed a groundbreaking resolution at Chevron in collaboration with Arjuna Capital, which earned a low vote, but introduced the idea that shareholder capital is being wasted by continuing to invest in high cost, high carbon reserves that are likely to be stranded.

Ideas are powerful and even low votes can change the narrative and shift attitudes and policy. Nearly every major shareholder-driven corporate change started with a novel resolution, which As You Sow is particularly well known for introducing. Resolutions that push the envelope can require time and investor education to resonate and build consensus; they highlight important areas of business risk and often see increased shareholder support in subsequent years, resulting in critical corporate changes.

Langert surely must appreciate how As You Sow recently helped his alma mater, McDonald’s, eliminate 770 million polystyrene coffee cups per year at 14,000 stores, as well as our leading role for more than three years in a coalition of investors that co-developed "Project Kaleidoscope: a collaborative and dynamic approach to code of conduct compliance" to solve labor issues related to production of McDonald’s Happy Meal Toys.

The goal of shareholder advocates is not a vote or a withdrawal. The goal is to put forth new ideas and to work with companies to make real changes in corporate policy and practice that last over the long term. I speak for As You Sow and for our colleagues when I say that we advocate diligently and fearlessly on behalf of shareholders based on science and sound corporate environmental and social responsibility considerations. Our actions are founded on long-term strategic thinking. We hope that those observing our activities will take a more nuanced look at the important work that we do. I invite Langert to work with us to understand the goals, approaches and impact of shareholder advocacy, eliminate the myths and bring forth a new era of greater innovation and collaboration between companies and their shareholder advocates.

Invest Your ValuesAndrew BeharJanuary 13, 2016Andrew Behar