Shareholders Call on Meta to Limit Political Disinformation Before 2024 Election

Today, Meta shareholders will vote on a proposal filed by shareholder representative As You Sow asking the company to assess the impact of reinstating “enhanced actions” put in place to protect the 2020 election and prohibiting political advertising on its platform prior to the 2024 election. The requested actions would reduce misinformation and hate speech on its platforms during another heated election cycle.

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Exxon Faces Proposal Highlighting Risks from Single-Use Plastics at Annual Meeting

Tomorrow, ExxonMobil’s (NYSE: XOM) shareholders will vote on a proposal filed by United Church Funds and represented by As You Sow calling on Exxon to report how a significant reduction in virgin plastic demand would impact the company’s financial position and the assumptions underlying its financial statements. Exxon tried and failed to block the proposal at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in March of this year, one of many confrontational actions by Exxon targeting shareholders this proxy season.

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Chubb Shareholders Support Climate Disclosure as Annual Insured Losses from Extreme Weather Continue to Climb

Today, Chubb Ltd., one of the world’s leading insurers, announced shareholder support of 28.7% for a shareholder proposal calling on the insurer to measure and disclose greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from its underwriting, insuring, and investment activities in high-carbon companies including fossil fuels. The resolution was filed by investor representative As You Sow and Green Century Capital Management.

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Old Dominion Shareholders Call on Company to Adopt Basic Climate Targets and Prepare for a Clean Energy Future

Today, Old Dominion Freight Line Inc., one of the largest North American trucking companies operating in 48 states, faces a shareholder vote on an Amalgamated Bank and As You Sow proposal calling for Old Dominion to adopt interim and long-term greenhouse gas reduction (GHG) targets to reach Net Zero emissions by 2050. The transportation sector plays a pivotal role in reaching the Paris Agreement’s goal as it is the highest emitting sector in the United States, with 24% of these emissions from ground freight transportation.

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Cummins Shareholders Call for Stronger Link Between CEO Pay and Climate Goals at Annual General Meeting

Today, shareholders will vote on a shareholder proposal at Cummins’ Annual General Meeting asking the Company to disclose a plan linking its CEO pay to the Company’s GHG emission reduction goals. Cummins, a global engine and power equipment manufacturer, is ranked among the highest emitters in the transportation sector. The proposal was filed by shareholder representative As You Sow.

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26% of SkyWest Shareholders Support Non-Interference Policy

Results released late last week showed 25.7% of SkyWest ("the Company") shareholders supported an Amalgamated Bank proposal asking it to adopt a non-interference policy upholding the rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining in its operations. The company faces allegations by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA that it has retaliated against employees seeking external union representation and that it funds an internal employee association, the SkyWest Inflight Association (SIA), intended to replace independent unionization.

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Shareholders Send a Message to Lockheed Martin and RTX that Climate Readiness is Mission Readiness

Major defense contractors Lockheed Martin and RTX (formerly Raytheon Technologies) announced Annual General Meeting vote totals for two climate proposals filed by As You Sow. Thirty-two percent of Lockheed shareholders and 25% of Raytheon shareholders supported proposals requesting the companies disclose plans to reduce full value chain emissions to align with the Paris Agreement's 1.5°C goal, mirroring strong support for similar proposals in 2023.

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Key Themes at Plastic Treaty Talks Align with As You Sow’s Effort to Hold Companies Accountable on Plastic Pollution

As global plastics treaty talks wind down in Ottawa, I was pleased to see key topics like petrochemical production caps and extended producer responsibility front and center in discussions. Those have been the ongoing focus of As You Sow’s plastic pollution conversation with major producers and their customers for several years.

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Coca-Cola Under Pressure to Protect Employee Health at Annual General Meeting

BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA—MAY 1, 2024 —Today, Coca-Cola shareholders will vote on a proposal calling on the company to report known or potential risks to the company's employees caused by the decline in the quality of their medical care. With headquarters in Atlanta, Coca-Cola employees face the brunt of an existing healthcare crisis in Georgia as a result of legislative interferences in accessible healthcare, posing an immediate threat to their health and wellbeing. 

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Big Tech Employees Missed Out on $5 Billion in Returns Due to 401(k) Fossil Fuel Investments, New Report Finds

Today, researchers at the University of Waterloo (Canada), in partnership with As You Sow, released a new report finding more than 2 million employees from 12 tech-sector companies could have earned an estimated $5.1 billion in additional returns had their companies moved to decarbonize their retirement plan holdings 10 years ago. The report analyzed the 401(k) plans of the Big Five tech companies – Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, and Microsoft – and seven additional tech companies: Adobe, Broadcom, Intuit, Netflix, Oracle, Qualcomm, and SAP America.

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22% of Kellanova Shareholders Vote for Action on Pesticides at Company's Annual General Meeting  

Kellanova, previously the Kellogg Company, released results today from its annual general meeting. Shareholders showed strong support for an As You Sow proposal calling on the company to disclose risks from pesticide use in its supply chain. Pesticides in agricultural supply chains have multiple cumulative environmental and social impacts that present a material risk to Kellanova. 

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As Companies Link CEO Pay to Climate Goals, Most Pay Plans Fail to Drive Necessary Emissions Reduction

Shareholder representative As You Sow today released its 2024 “Pay for Climate Performance: Linking CEO Compensation to Emissions Reduction” report, grading 100 of the largest U.S. companies on their CEO climate-related pay incentives and their ability to drive greenhouse gas emission reductions. The report finds that while pay incentives can be powerful motivators, they need to be quantifiable, significant, and linked to robust climate goals.

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As You Vote Releases New 2024 ESG-Aligned Proxy Voting Guidelines

Today, As You Sow and Proxy Impact released the As You Vote 2024 Proxy Voting Guidelines, a leading resource for investors who want to follow an ESG-aligned voting policy for long-term sustainable growth. As You Vote provides this ESG proxy voting policy for institutional investors through the Broadridge Proxy Edge platform, for individual investors through Iconik, and for mutual fund and ETF pass-thru with Tumelo.

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CITI Reports on Clients’ Climate Transition Progress

Citibank today released a climate report containing information on its energy and power clients’ climate transition progress. This information was provided in response to a shareholder proposal filed with Citi this year by As You Sow. The proposal asked Citi to disclose, for each of its sectors with a Net Zero-aligned 2030 target, the proportion of sector emissions attributable to clients that are not aligned with a credible Net Zero pathway and any actions it proposes for shortfalls.

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Google Employees Missed Out on $1 Billion Due to 401(k) Plan’s Investments in Fossil Fuels

Today, researchers at the University of Waterloo, in partnership with As You Sow, released a new report finding that Google employees could have earned an estimated $1.15 billion in additional returns, with the financial performance of the company’s retirement plan holdings “estimated to have been higher if they had divested from the Energy Sector ten years ago on an absolute and risk adjusted basis.”

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Shareholders Continue Strong Advocacy for Corporate Climate and Social Action, Despite Political Attacks

Today, As You Sow, the Sustainable Investments Institute (Si2) and Proxy Impact released Proxy Preview 2024, a comprehensive review of more than 527 environmental, social and related governance (ESG) proposals submitted by shareholders. This 20th-anniversary edition confirms continued faith by shareholders in using proposals to highlight risks and opportunities for companies, despite political efforts targeting ESG more broadly and the rights of shareholders. 

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Hormel Commits to Reduce Plastic Packaging, Other Circular Economy Commitments

Hormel Foods will cut packaging use by 10 million pounds by 2030, form a new industry working group to advance circular packaging policy and produce a report detailing opportunities for the company to take additional circularity action by later this year. In response, As You Sow agreed to withdraw its shareholder proposal with the company.  

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Carbon Clean 200 Companies Outperform Dirty Energy by 39%

As You Sow and Corporate Knights today released their 11th update of the Carbon Clean200™, a list of 200 publicly traded companies worldwide leading the way among global peers to a clean energy present and future. These companies generated almost double the returns of the main fossil fuel index from July 1, 2016, to January 15, 2024, despite geopolitical tensions that have favored fossil fuel stocks in the past two years.

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