“We know fossil fuels have underperformed over the last decade, so the results shouldn’t be surprising,” said As You Sow CEO Andrew Behar. “What’s surprising is that nearly every retirement plan is invested in the extractive economy, which runs counter to the values of the people who earn the money while reducing their retirement savings.” Read More →
Read MoreAs You Sow recommends that companies aim to make at least 5% of the total “performance shares” in their CEO’s long-term incentive plan relate to climate goals. Performance shares are an incentive-based form of stock compensation paid to executives for meeting certain benchmarks. “It can’t be so small in comparison to other payouts that it would not incentivize action,” says Danielle Fugere, president and chief counsel of As You Sow. Read More →
Read MoreSome 22% of DTE’s carbon footprint comes from its gas segment, notes Kelly Poole, climate and energy coordinator of As You Sow. Already, parts of Michigan are looking to diminish reliance on fossil fuels, which poses competitive risk and potential regulatory risk for DTE. For example, Ann Arbor plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. As You Sow also notes that more than 100 municipalities in 12 states have policies promoting building electrification. Read More →
Read MoreLast week, Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow, appeared in front of the House Judiciary Committee, where he defended responsible investing after the House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed the pro-corporate responsibility group. After the hearing, Behar appeared on Democracy Now where he made the case for responsible investing and why the committee members were wrong. Read More →
Read MoreCurrently, many of these bonuses are shrouded in vague language, according to US-based nonprofit As You Sow, which focuses on investor issues ranging from climate change to gender inequalities. “We want to know that executives aren’t simply being rewarded, for instance, for climate metrics they’ve already met,” said Danielle Fugere, As You Sow’s president and chief counsel. Read More →
Read MoreKelly McBee, As You Sow’s circular economy manager, said she had “productive conversations” with Hormel, but she still wanted to see more support for laws that make companies financially responsible for the trash they produce (known as “extended producer responsibility,” or EPR, laws), as well as more investment in plastic collection and recycling infrastructure. Read More →
Read MorePoliticians in Republican-controlled U.S. states have already launched 150 anti-ESG bills in 2024, which has had a chilling effect, according to Andrew Behar, chief executive of activist group As You Sow, which pressures companies, including the big U.S. banks, over ESG issues. Read More →
Read MoreAnd that’s the big deal, says As You Sow CEO Andrew Behar, who co-authored the 2024 study. “In 2016, we created the Clean200 in response to investors saying, ‘If we divest fossil fuels, there is nothing to invest in.’” Eight years later, the message is clear: “Investors who are not tilting their portfolios toward a clean future do so at their own peril.” Read More →
Read More‘Mining the deep sea for battery-related minerals will create irreversible habitat and ecosystem loss, with the risk of permanently destroying invaluable carbon storage,’ As You Sow states. ‘A commitment or clarification on deep-sea mining from Tesla and [GM] would signal to shareholders and the auto industry that they acknowledge the importance of careful action as vehicle electrification accelerates in the US and abroad.’ Read More →
Read More“We’re putting that much money into a dirty carbon climate-harming type of energy…why?” said Danielle Fugere, President and Chief Counsel of As You Sow, which works with companies to advance clean energy and sustainability goals. Transitioning fossil fuel subsidies to the clean energy sector can be as easy as setting the national intention, she said. Read More →
Read MoreDanielle Fugere is president and chief counsel of As You Sow, one of America’s most prominent nonprofit shareholder advocacy groups. As You Sow nudges the largest U.S. public companies toward adopting the green practices their investors want to see. Read More →
Read MoreDanielle Fugere, president and chief counsel of the environmental advocacy group As You Sow, argued that California's enactment of Senate Bill 253 will "shore up" the SEC's draft proposal. "There's been a lot of discussion around whether Scope 3 requirements will be removed from the SEC's proposal," Fugere said, adding that she is hopeful that the California measure "will help the SEC stand firm." Read More →
Read MoreAndrew 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 →
Read MoreDavid Shugar, manager of the Say on Climate initiative, on the crucial role shareholders can play. Shareholder engagement tools include active dialogue, filing of shareholder resolutions where necessary, voting on resolutions and even escalation to the board level where companies remain non-responsive. Read More →
Read MoreFor instance, companies including Ford (F.N) and eBay (EBAY.O) agreed to report more workforce details such as recruiting and retention rates in deals that led shareholder activist group As You Sow to withdraw resolutions before they were voted, said its CEO Andrew Behar. Read More →
Read MoreInvestors at Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and Wells Fargo also voted on a first-time resolution filed by shareholder representative As You Sow asking them to provide climate transition plans for achieving their 2030 net-zero GHG emissions reduction goals. That measure fared slightly better and was endorsed by about 30% of shareholders.Danielle Fugere, president and chief counsel at As You Sow, said she was pleased with the result. “Roughly a third of investors supporting the proposal indicates that the companies should be responsive,” she said. “It’s a first-year proposal, so we think this is very strong.” Read More →
Read MoreThat’s still not as much as some other utilities have done, and Berkshire has been either less aggressive or less specific in its commitments to bring down carbon emissions, said Daniel Stewart, energy and climate program manager for As You Sow, a shareholder-advisory group sponsoring a resolution at Berkshire’s meeting. Read More →
Read More“If you’re a universal owner [of shares in companies across the economy] and you look at your portfolio, there are a small number of bad actors that harm the whole portfolio,” said Andrew Behar, CEO of the shareholder group As You Sow. Read More →
Read More“Banks are fundamental to changing the direction of climate change,” said Danielle Fugere, president and chief counsel of As You Sow, a shareholder advocacy nonprofit that has filed shareholder resolutions asking Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs to disclose transition plans describing how they intend to align their financing activities with their 2030 greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. Read More →
Read More"I don't ever like to say this, but it feels a little bit like window dressing — that they are attempting to convince investors that they're taking action," says Danielle Fugere, president of As You Sow. "But because they aren't measuring, they aren't disclosing, we don't have a way to measure the effectiveness of those actions." Read More →
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