Danielle Fugere, president and chief counsel of shareholder advocacy group As You Sow, talks to Ben Maiden about a record year for ESG investor proposals and trends in engagement with companies. Read More →
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Meredith Benton, founder of consultancy Whistle Stop Capital and workplace equity program manager at As You Sow, formally presented the proposal to AT&T shareholders, according to the advocacy group. ‘It’s an incredible risk for AT&T to take, to be so deeply associated with anti-choice legislation,’ she says in a statement. ‘AT&T believes it needs to be involved in politics; we’re not arguing with that point. It is hard to see why, however, it is not managing the risks involved with supporting politicians who sit so clearly outside of its own company values.’ Read More →
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As You Sow president Danielle Fugere says in a statement following the AGM: ‘With this strong vote, investors have made it clear that companies must fully address how the global transition away from fossil fuels will affect their companies’ bottom line and future success. As demonstrated by the IEA net-zero by 2050 scenario, a clear pathway to achieving net-zero emissions exists – and it requires a rapid movement away from fossil fuel-based energy. Read More →
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As You Sow, a nonprofit advocacy group, has created two searchable databases called Gun Free Funds and Weapon Free Funds. Just type in your funds’ name to see if there’s any exposure to gun or weapons companies. The 30-year old activist investing group also offers some alternative investment ideas for those who wish to divest. For those who are not yet invested, As You Sow posts ratings of funds’ exposure to guns for comparison. Read More →
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In this podcast we speak with Andrew Behar, CEO of the non-profit As You Sow, a shareholder advocacy non-profit that focuses on corporate social responsibility. We discuss the current proxy season and how accounting, auditing and financial disclosure practices fit into their approach to engaging with public companies. Read More →
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As shareholder activist groups strategize for next year, more are planning to take direct aim at corporate managers who don’t deliver on climate. And although outright victories remain rare, the vote gap is closing as more mainstream investors recognize that climate change is a business risk. “Companies that aren’t transitioning aren’t good investments,” said Danielle Fugere, president of shareholder group As You Sow. “That message is loud and clear.” Read More →
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Tools like Gun Free Funds or Weapons Free Funds are also simple ways of identifying funds that have exposure to guns or other types of weapons, and finding alternative ESG options. Both tools are managed by As You Sow, a 30-year-old nonprofit that encourages shareholder activism. “There’s 100 million people with 401k plans that are profiting from these gun manufacturers, and no one’s even aware of it,” said Andrew Behar CEO of As You Sow. Read More →
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Andrew Behar runs As You Sow, a nonprofit that promotes corporate responsibility. “They’re included in mutual funds, and in people’s 401(k) plans, and most people are not even aware of that,” he said. Behar’s company runs a website called Weapon Free Funds that helps people look up whether they’re invested in the gun industry. “Which looks at both military weapons, but also civilian weapons. Including assault weapons and ammunition,” he said. Read More →
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“It’s in people’s self-interest to try to contain this,” says Rosanna Landis Weaver, wage justice and executive pay program senior manager at As You Sow, a non-profit shareholder-advocacy group. “The political instability that is created by income inequality is a real danger. It’s a danger to democracy, and it’s a danger to capitalism.” Read More →
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“I am a capitalist. I’m for improving capitalism, not throwing it out,” says As You Sow’s Weaver. “It’s in people’s self-interest to try to contain this—because the political instability that is created by income inequality is a real danger. It’s a danger to democracy, and it’s a danger to capitalism.” Read More →
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Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow, a non-profit that tracks how well companies live up to their environmental and social pledges, isn’t convinced that BlackRock will do anything differently this time. He charges that companies like BlackRock hide behind the “it’s in an index” excuse. Read More →
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“Their current financial statements don’t truly take climate risk into account,” said Danielle Fugere, president of the shareholder advocacy group As You Sow. “They are looking at significant growth of fossil fuel assets and fossil fuel demand over the next two or three decades. What happens to your business if we are successful in meeting the net-zero goals that we set in Paris? How many write- offs are there? What happens to your asset retirement obligations?” Read More →
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To quickly find out any fund’s gun exposure, you can consult a website called Gun Free Funds, maintained by As You Sow, a nonprofit shareholder advocacy group, and partially powered by Morningstar. Simply input a fund name and get the fund’s exposure to gun manufacturers and major gun retailers, along with replacement recommendations for those funds with exposure to guns. Read More →
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"It’s amazing how much power people have in their money, in their savings, in their 401(k) plans," says Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow, a nonprofit that promotes corporate social responsibility through shareholder advocacy. "It really just comes down to: Do you want to profit off of assault weapons, handguns, and ammunition? If you don’t, you need to know what you own." Read More →
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There are now many E.S.G.-based alternatives to popular index funds that screen out gun-related stocks with minimal effects on performance or costs, Mr. Hale said. Online tools like Gun Free Funds, run by the nonprofit foundation As You Sow, give information about gun stocks in funds that appear in many investors’ portfolios and retirement accounts. Read More →
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While the new rules will affect most funds, including index funds, their target is ESG funds which drew a record $649 billion globally through Nov. 30, up from $542 billion and $285 billion in 2020 and 2019, respectively, according to Refinitiv Lipper data. Andrew Behar, president of climate-activist group, As You Sow, said market participants have exploited a loophole in the current rules when naming funds. Read More →
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For instance a fund based on the S&P 500 ESG Index, the SPDR S&P 500 ESG ETF, received the low rating "D" by climate activist research group As You Sow, which noted despite its title and sustainability mandate, fossil fuel stocks make up 6.5% of fund assets. Read More →
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Tesla was recently tagged by sustainable investing advocate As You Sow in a report that ranked 55 companies on their “green” progress.
Most major corporations tell customers and shareholders they’re working toward zero greenhouse gas emissions in the coming years and decades, doing their part to slow global warming. But the speed of progress varies. And many still rely on buying permission to pollute through carbon offsets rather than changing how they source energy, the As You Sow investing group charged. Others, even environmental groundbreaker Tesla, earned poor marks for not publicly sharing emissions data at all. Read More →
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Kelly McBee, waste program coordinator at As You Sow, answers this question and others to help peel back the filmy layers that cloud companies’ sustainability stories and bring more clarity. As You Sow advocates for environmental and social corporate responsibility on behalf of companies’ shareholders. Read More →
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For example, AT&T shareholders voted against an executive compensation measure in April. In 2021, 16 companies had executive pay packages rejected by shareholders, according to As You Sow, an activist investor group. Read More →
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