As You Sow's climate change initiative focuses on two industry sectors: public utilities and the computer and information technology sector.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions – Public Utilities

The electric power industry accounts for more carbon dioxide emissions than any other industrial sector. Our resolution at Idaho Power Corp. resulted in a historic majority vote of 51.2 percent of shares voted in favor of our proposal. To read more about the proposal and our dialogue with Idacorp, click here.

Corporate Reporting and Emission Reduction in Computer/IT Sector

Our concern about greenhouse gas emissions by electronics companies is an expansion of years of dialogues with leading sector firms about recycling of electronic equipment and compliance with global ethical sourcing guidelines. We have engaged several computer and information technology companies to encourage corporate reporting about greenhouse gas and carbon footprint assessment, and commitments to future GHG reductions. For more information on our proposals at Apple Inc. and other IT companies, click here.

Scores of shareholder proposals on climate change have been filed for several years by a broad coalition of investors, including giant state pension funds, socially responsible investors and religious groups. The proposals generally ask companies to map their existing GHG emissions and develop GHG emission reduction commitments.

In 2010, 41 proposals were filed on climate issues with companies in many industry sectors. About half of these proposals were withdrawn after companies agreed to positive climate-related commitments. The rest went to a vote.

Background

Climate change has become one of the foremost environmental concerns of our time. The science is unequivocal—the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world’s leading scientific authority in this area, has developed strong evidence that global temperatures are increasing, mainly due to human influences.

A global consensus is emerging that the increase in atmospheric temperature should be limited to about 2°C above pre-industrial levels in order to prevent the worst impacts of climate change. In order to keep temperatures in this range, IPCC has stated that global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must start declining by 2015.

For industrialized countries, this implies implementing drastic cuts almost immediately. The IPCC suggests that industrialized countries may have to cut emissions from 1990 levels by 25 to 40 per cent by 2020 and 80 to 95 per cent by 2050.

Also, saving tropical rainforests would reduce 17% of annual GHG emissions. Destruction of forests worldwide accounts for 20% of the annual emissions problem.

Photo by Flickr: TSwartz