“This year can be an inflection point,” says As You Sow’s Andrew Behar. “The 2020 proxy season will test if investors and companies will help define a new economic paradigm or if these endorsements are just empty words.” Read More →
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But people increasingly want to know that the conglomeration of corporations that they part-own is clean. That’s where As You Sow’s “Invest Your Values” online tool comes into play. The tool, the winner in the impact investing category of Fast Company’s 2020 World Changing Ideas Awards, gives users a chance to view what’s in the funds they’re paying into and—if they don’t like what they find—to pick a mutual fund more aligned with their politics “Its essence is to help everyday investors to align their investing with their values,” says Andrew Behar, As You Sow’s CEO. Read More →
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Investment into new natural gas infrastructures like pipelines and power plants is "incompatible" with long-term shareholder value, and thus it is in the best interest of the investor community to push utilities away from natural gas, according to a new report from corporate social responsibility group As You Sow and environmental consulting firm Energy Innovation. Read More →
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UPDATE: April 15, 2020: As You Sow recently agreed to withdraw a shareholder proposal following an agreement by Republic Services to report new recycling information. Read More →
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As You Sow, a group that has worked with APS on plans to reduce the company’s reliance on fossil-fuel based energy, in an email to POWER said its supports APS’s action plan. “We commend APS for this important step toward addressing its climate impact and positioning itself to thrive in the coming clean energy economy,” said Lila Holzman, energy program manager of As You Sow. Read More →
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The pressure on Barclays is also an indication of what will be coming the way of US banks in years to come, according to US investor As You Sow. “We are pleased to see Barclays show leadership at this particularly critical time of economic uncertainty,” said Danielle Fugere, president of As You Sow. “This announcement from a European bank continues to highlight the gap of inaction by US banks.” Read More →
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Republic Services Inc., Phoenix, has committed to publishing a report on how the company can improve efforts to increase plastics recovery and recycling to address environmental problems caused by plastic pollution, according to a news release from Berkeley, California-based nonprofit As You Sow. Read More →
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Danielle Fugere, president and chief counsel of coalition member group As You Sow, said in a separate statement about the decision that Barclays' decision "is critically important to helping ensure the world meets its climate goal," and that it also "highlights the gap of inaction by U.S. banks, who will continue to see pressure from shareholder resolutions, including an upcoming one with J.P. Morgan Chase." Read More →
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As You Sow CEO Andrew Behar believes that a discussion he had with one of the board members of Monster Beverage Corp. during a coffee break at the company's 2018 annual general meeting was the catalyst behind Monster's decision several months later to work with As You Sow to study and publish a slavery and human trafficking report on its sugarcane supply chain and start on the path to addressing those issues. The related resolution had received only 20% support at the 2018 meeting. Read More →
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“If companies do not intend to align with the global Paris goal, they should be clear with shareholders,” As You Sow President Danielle Fugere said in a statement. “Only through clear and comparable reporting can shareholders benchmark company actions and make sound investment decisions.” Read More →
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“Companies make these big goals. Years roll by, nothing happens or they miss it,” says Conrad MacKerron, senior vice president of the shareholder activist group As You Sow, which has filed shareholder proposals to push companies to increase their recycling efforts. “And then there’s really no penalty in a lot of cases, because people have moved on.” Read More →
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New York State and the UK’s Church Commissioners will vote against the entire board of ExxonMobil again this year in response to the US oil giant’s continued “recalcitrant” approach to climate change. Read More →
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A document on the agency website noted briefly that SEC staff agreed March 20 with requests by company officials to exclude proposals from a group of shareholders, including the Church of England and As You Sow, asking if the companies will join other oil and gas companies in taking steps to align with the Paris Agreement goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, and calling for reduction targets, long-term business plans and other details. Read More →
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Lila Holzman, energy program manager at As You Sow, a shareholder activist group that filed the Dominion and Sempra resolutions, says the companies have not "gone far enough." Read More →
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Referring to a recent policy change by the Business Roundtable to endorse stakeholder capitalism, driven in part by shareholder advocacy, As You Sow CEO Andrew Behar said in the same statement that the 2020 proxy season "will test if investors and companies will help define a new economic paradigm or if these endorsements are just empty words." Read More →
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Climate change and corporations’ responses to it also are of primary importance to shareholders, according to the 2020 Proxy Preview report released Thursday. The report on the resolutions was compiled by As You Sow, Proxy Impact and other consumer advocacy organizations. Read More →
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For anyone wondering whether a company’s prosperity is being shared with workers in the form of rising median pay, the mandated reports may provide few real answers. “That’s unfortunate,” said Rosanna Landis Weaver of As You Sow, a nonprofit that lobbied for the disclosure rule. “There just seems to be a deep reluctance to disclose the inequalities that exist within corporations. Companies have resisted this rule for year and years and years — and they are still.” Read More →
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Shareholder advocacy group As You Sow partnered with Energy Innovation to release a study titled “Natural Gas: A Bridge to Climate Breakdown” to look at the potential climate impacts of natural gas as many states enacted legislation in recent years to transition away from carbon-based energy. Read More →
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Andrew Behar, CEO of environmental resolution sponsor As You Sow, said he credits BlackRock and State Street for boosting SASB, even if ideally companies would also provide a GRI report. Read More →
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