"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 →
Read More“Politics should be separate from markets,” said Danielle Fugere, president of shareholder advocacy group As You Sow. “The world is transitioning towards a greener economy, and markets are adjusting to that. It is absurd for lawmakers to think that they’re going to put a stop to that progress. It would be detrimental to U.S. businesses.” Read More →
Read More“Disclosure resolutions are getting the same level of support,” says Andrew Behar, CEO of environmental and social advocacy non-profit As You Sow. “But it’s the newer resolutions that are a little more granular which are challenging the status quo.” Read More →
Read MoreAs You Sow analyzed the 2021 chief executive officer compensation packages of 47 US companies included in the Climate Action 100+ initiative, an investor-led program to ensure the world’s largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters curb their footprints. It found that many firms didn’t tie CEO pay to climate metrics, and when they did, it’s wasn’t to a level that would prompt bosses to meaningfully reduce emissions. Read More →
Read MoreBy constraining the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from coal- and gas-fired power plants, the court put responsibility on investors looking to slow climate change, said Andrew Behar, chief executive of the nonprofit group As You Sow, a which often files shareholder resolutions. Read More →
Read MoreSustainability advocates say they aren’t concerned about the spike in conservative shareholder resolutions. “If they’re bona fide shareholders, they have a right to file a resolution and all shareholders will vote on it,” said Andrew Behar, the CEO of As You Sow. “That’s part of capitalism.” Read More →
Read MoreAnd it’s up from early predictions in Proxy Preview, a sweeping report compiled by nonprofits As You Sow, Proxy Impact, and Si2. The number of proposals “tightly focused” on climate change alone rose to 113 from 85 last year and 68 in 2020, according to Si2. Six of 17 shareholder proposals that won a majority vote (so far) are tied to racial justice. And issues directly tied to workers like safety were on 65 ballots going into the season, Proxy Preview found. The calculations are derived from regulatory filings with official vote counts, so aren’t final. Read More →
Read MoreDanielle 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 →
Read MoreAs 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 →
Read MoreAs 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 →
Read More“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 →
Read MoreFor 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 →
Read MoreTesla 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 →
Read More“They are holding a steady course. That hasn’t always been the case when we see a price spike. I think that is good news and a sign of how much the transition is impacting companies,” said Danielle Fugere, president and chief counsel of As You Sow, a nonprofit that advocates for socially responsible investing Read More →
Read MoreAccording to an SEC filing, 91.36 percent of the votes cast at the company’s recent AGM backed a proposal filed by As You Sow asking that Boeing’s board release a report ‘evaluating and disclosing if and how the company has met the criteria of the net-zero indicator, including Scope 3 use of product emissions, or whether it intends to revise its policies to be fully responsive to such [an] indicator.’ Read More →
Read MoreAs You Sow, the nonprofit that submitted the two shareholder resolutions at Caterpillar, said it supported companies experimenting with different ways of reducing environmental impacts but hopes the company will disclose more about its efforts. Read More →
Read MoreAltogether, Berkshire faced four shareholder proposals. One, led by Federated Hermes (FHI) on behalf of other shareholders, asked Berkshire to publish an annual assessment of how it manages physical and transitional climate-change-related risks and opportunities. It won 27% of the overall vote, or around 47% of the vote excluding insiders. A second, led by shareholder advocate As You Sow, asked Berkshire to report on its greenhouse gas emissions. It also won 27% of the overall vote. A third, also led by As You Sow, asked Berkshire or its holding companies to report on the outcomes of their DEI efforts by publishing data on workforce composition and promotion rates by gender, race, and ethnicity. It won 26% of the vote. The board of directors recommended voting against the proposals. Read More →
Read MoreDanielle Fugere, the president of As You Sow, a shareholder representative organization promoting environmental and social corporate responsibility, wrote in Sierra, the magazine of the Sierra Club, that the SEC's rules "represent an important step forward in terms of using market mechanisms to spur progress on climate action." ("What Do the New SEC Rules Mean for Action on Climate Change?" March 24, 2022.) Read More →
Read More“Both Duke and Dominion are now leading energy companies on this front,” said Danielle Fugere, president of As You Sow, the shareholder advocacy group that represented investors on recent shareholder proposals on climate change at those companies. The proposals were withdrawn after the companies revamped their climate plans. Read More →
Read MoreProxy votes against executive pay at S&P 500 companies became more common last year, according to a report by As You Sow, a shareholder advocacy group focused on environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters. Read More →
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