Posts tagged ESG
There were even more ESG shareholder proposals this proxy season than last year—Here’s why investor support for them tanked

For example, proposals that focused on cutting emissions across a company’s supply chain found a warmer reception than those that set specific deadlines for companies to phase out of fossil fuel projects, the report states. (Andrew Behar, CEO of leading shareholder activist group As You Sow, has also acknowledged that “tougher” proposals were a hard sell this year.)  Read More →

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ESG Watch: Activists notched up climate wins, despite rocky results season

Andrew Behar, chief executive of As You Sow, agrees. Writing in a blog post, he said: “While political efforts to roll back the clock are under way, they will crumble against the wall of economic reality (that) investors and companies deal with every day.” He added that there were already signs that this is happening. Read More →

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Business talks ESG with Andrew Behar: What is a proxy season and how can NGOs use shareholder power?

What is shareholder engagement, and how can it actually influence investments? How does shareholder power differ between Europe and America in terms of shareholder proposals? What are the regulatory variations that contribute to this difference? Listen to the conversation between: Andrew Behar, CEO and founder of As You Sow and Hege Marie Norheim, EVP Corporate Public Affairs and Sustainability, FREYR  Read More →

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House approves measure targeting Biden rule allowing money managers to consider ESG in retirement investing

“The Trump rule, it’s extremely convoluted and just confusing,” said Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow, a group that seeks to use shareholder power to push action on climate and environmental issues. Democrats on Tuesday blasted the resolution, saying that Republicans were trying to circumvent the free market by putting up barriers to ESG investing.  Read More →

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Anti-ESG drive in U.S. could have cost taxpayers up to $708 mln - study

The study based its analysis on a recent Wharton School of Business paper that found Texas taxpayers could have faced up to $532 million in additional interest payments because of restrictions introduced in that state. "Legislators will face the backlash of their constituents for flushing hundreds of millions of dollars down the toilet for their own political games," said Andrew Behar, CEO at shareholder advocacy group As You Sow, one of the backers of the study. Read More →

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Companies Face Rising Pressure to Offer ESG Retirement Options

An estimated $32.3 trillion was invested in US retirement plans as of September 2022, with nearly $9 trillion in direct contribution plans such as 401(k)s, according to tracking by the Investment Company Institute. While many retirement plans funnel money into companies that fuel the climate crisis, explains Andrew Behar, chief executive officer of the shareholder activist group As You Sow, “people are just completely ignorant when it comes to what’s actually in their plan.” Read More →

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Retirement Plans Become New Battleground for ESG

All these issues are related. Danielle Fugere, president of As You Sow, explains that most companies put employees who don’t choose specific investments into target-date funds for their retirement plans. (This is why they’re called the “default” option.) Such funds “are fairly high in high-carbon companies such as oil and gas,” Fugere says. In the past, companies have argued that Erisa prohibited them from addressing issues like climate change. A Trump-era rule previously banned consideration of ESG issues in decisions related to default options. Read More →

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10 Reasons Why ESG Won’t Be Stopped

“Things have to be verified in a standardized format. Right now, it’s creating distrust between companies and owners,” says Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow, the shareholder advocacy nonprofit.

Meanwhile, fund names should accurately reflect their ESG practices. “There is no connection between a prospectus and its holdings,” Behar says. In January, As You Sow published a study of 94 mutual funds and ETFs with the word ESG in their name. Based on the firm’s criteria of what makes a good ESG fund, 60 received a D or an F grade. Read More →

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New SEC Rules to Shed Light on BlackRock, Vanguard ESG Votes

ESG disclosure is maturing and starting to get the support it needs from the SEC, said Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow, a shareholder advocacy group that pushes companies to be more socially responsible.

“It’s all moving us into a place where we can actually judge which companies are part of an economy based on justice and sustainability,” Behar said. Read More →

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Holding Management to Account

Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow, joins the podcast to discuss the power of using shareholder advocacy to drive change at large corporations. Andrew walks us through “a day in the life,” specifically May 25, 2022, when his team presented resolutions at five corporate annual meetings on issues ranging from climate change to racial justice; Andrew talks about the SEC’s new draft rule that addresses the ESG naming problem within mutual funds; and the paradox of employees unknowingly investing in companies that are destroying the Amazon through company retirement plans. Read More →

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Gun makers’ stocks, which often rise after mass shootings, jump.inv

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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U.S. SEC unveils rules to ensure ESG funds follow through on investments

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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