“They got less cash, but they could end up making more money than they did the prior year,” Rosanna Weaver, a program manager following executive compensation for corporate responsibility group As You Sow, told The Post.
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"Many companies, especially leaders on environmental and social issues and good corporate governance, are not leaping to end transparency, halt engagements and block shareholder input," said As You Sow CEO Andrew Behar in the report. "Instead, they look to investor advocates to uncover win-win situations that benefit all stakeholders."
In 2017, As You Sow submitted a shareholder proposal for Amazon.com and Target to issue a report about the environmental impacts of foam packing materials. This included "quantifying the amount that could reach the environment, the potential for increased risk of adverse health effects to marine animals and humans."
A similar proposal was made to McDonald’s, which has swapped "polystyrene foam beverage cups" for "foam packing."
As You Sow said on its website that it uses resolutions as a way to leverage the power of stock ownership in publicly traded companies to promote environmental, social and governance change from within.
Resolutions are placed on the company’s proxy, and any shareholder owning at least 1 percent, or $2,000 worth of stock, for at least a year is allowed to bring up a shareholder proposal.
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Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow, emphasized that shareholder proponents remain committed to “protecting hard-won gains” that form from their relationships with corporations -- especially since the new administration is “bent on cutting government regulations and rolling back legislation on everything from financial reform to healthcare and the environment,” he said.
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As You Sow flagged as "overpaid" a number of chief executive officers known for high compensation despite the mixed performance of their companies' shares over the period.
The Oakland, California nonprofit found the average returns for the 100 S&P 500 companies it had previously identified as having the most questionable pay went on to underperform the index by 2.9 percentage points over a roughly two-year period ended on Jan. 31.
Study lead author Rosanna Landis Weaver said investors could have used the findings of a similar report from 2015 to short the shares of companies giving their CEOs outsized rewards.
"If you have a CEO whose primary interest is increasing his own wealth, that's not going to be good for shareholders," she said in an interview.
As You Sow made a financial prediction of what each CEO might have been paid based on shareholder returns. Companies with the most red flags and biggest gaps between their actual and predicted compensation were judged the most overpaid.
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The proposal was brought about by As You Sow, a group that promotes corporate accountability on the environment, on behalf of the Gun Denhart Living Trust and other investors.
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The non-binding proposal submitted by activist group As You Sow on behalf of the Gun Denhart Living Trust and other investors received the support of 30 percent of votes cast, Sanderson Chief Financial Officer Mike Cockrell told Reuters.
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Patricia Jurewicz, director of the Responsible Sourcing Network and creator of initiative Yarn Ethically and Sustainably Sourced (YESS) working in spinning mills, said the cotton supply chain remained tainted despite initiatives to clean it up.
“There are improvements little by little and the most where brands get involved in production as they don’t want to be linked to abuse,” she said. “But there’s a long way to go”.
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Phasing out the use of polystyrene has been a priority of As You Sow's for years. Based on a 2011 shareholder resolution they encouraged McDonald's to try a pilot program that eventually resulted in the company making a full switch to paper in 2013. Though the company has yet to do this outside of the U.S. and Dunkin' Donuts hasn't followed up on a similar promise. Resolutions have also been filed with Amazon and Target, which mainly use the material for shipping.
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As You Sow’s release noted: “The shareholder advocacy organization As You Sow has been engaging the company for more than a year to make its packaging recyclable, focusing especially on multi-laminate plastic sachets and pouches used for shampoos in small packages marketed in Asia that cannot currently be recycled,” said As You Sow’s release. “Much of this packaging is discarded and ends up polluting waterways in developing Asian countries due to the lack of solid waste management systems.”
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RBI has been on the receiving end of pressure from major investors and Oakland-based shareholder advocacy group As You Sow to curb the use of medically important antibiotics in their livestock supply chains.
Noting McDonald’s and other companies have already “taken action” on antibiotics, As You Sow in 2016 put forward a shareholder resolution for RBI to adopt an “enterprise-wide” policy on phasing out use of antibiotics in its meat supply chains for any reasons other than therapeutic use or “non-routine disease control.”
As You Sow in March agreed to withdraw the resolution, after RBI agreed to “make disclosures” on its website in calendar 2016 about its policies on antibiotic use in livestock, covering its beef, pork and poultry supply chains.
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Austin Wilson, environmental health program manager for As You Sow, said the company’s new plan represented progress. Still, he said it was “disappointing, since it is weaker than the standards set in the last year or two by Tyson, McDonald’s and Wendy’s”.
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More than 70 percent of oil and gas companies engaged in hydraulic fracturing improved their scores on how they report policies to reduce risks from fracking, according to the fourth annualscorecard released Dec. 14 by investor groups As You Sow, Boston Common Asset Management and Investor Environmental Health Network.
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One of the earliest examples was a Catholic priest who used his stockholder prerogative to force R.J. Reynolds to stop aiming its “Joe Camel” advertising at kids. Then there was the activist group As You Sow, which prompted McDonald’s to stop using plastic foam cups for the 775 billion drinks sold per year. Considering that the ocean’s plastic will weigh more than the fish by 2050, this seems like a sensible step — but the kind of step corporations ruled by increasing quarterly profits are not inclined to take on their own.
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Vanguard’s apparent support for the powers that be extends to compensation. According to an analysis from shareholder rights group As You Sow, Vanguard and BlackRock were the most likely of the 25 largest mutual fund families to support pay packages of highly paid CEOs—each voting in favor 97% of the time, vs. 78% for the industry overall. Vanguard, though, says it prefers to address CEO pay by influencing board composition. In the past year, it voted against 396 directors in the U.S. who served on compensation committees.
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Don’t assume mutual funds meet this standard just because they’re designated as “socially responsible.” Instead, run the funds through an online tool created by As You Sow, a group that presses for corporate responsibility. The tool makes it easy to spot fossil-fuel exposure and identify greener options.
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"Despite what the administration may or may not do, I really believe that corporations understand the risks posed by climate change," said Danielle Fugere, president of As You Sow, a California nonprofit campaign group. It sponsored 18 climate-related shareholder resolutions in 2016 and expects to file a bigger number next year.
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The sisters are part of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), which along with ShareAction, Farm Animal Investment Risk & Return (FAIRR) Initiative and As You Sow, also are targeting companies such as Sanderson Farms (SAFM.O) and Yum Brands Inc (YUM.N) with similar campaigns aimed at preserving the efficacy of antibiotics.
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That brings us back to the carbon that may be hiding in your mutual fund or 401(k). One of the pioneers in the divest/reinvest movement is the nonprofit foundation As You Sow, which works with shareholders to improve corporate accountability. It has developed a tool that finds the carbon in thousands of the most common mutual funds and retirement plans. It does the detective work instantly and cost-free with up-to-date data.
Using 401(k) retirement plans as an example, As You Sow’s explains “those funds can invest in a wide array of securities, and it’s not always easy for investors to investigate what’s inside the funds they own. You can spend hours poring over mutual fund prospectuses, and still not fully grasp everything your 401(k) is invested in. Your retirement money may be invested in economically and morally risky fossil fuel companies.”
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“If what you read about stranded assets is true, it’s a potentially serious problem for regular, middle-class people who aren’t necessarily paying attention,” says Cari Rudd, a Washington DC-based communications consultant, who does social media work for Divest-Invest and sits on the board of As You Sow, an Oakland, California-based nonprofit that promotes environmental and social corporate responsibility through shareholder advocacy.
For example, As You Sow’s Fossil Free Funds, which uses data from Morningstar, is a free online tool that allows investors to type in the name or ticker of a fund and see what percentage is invested in fossil fuels. Earlier this month, the organization expanded Fossil Free Funds to include a feature that shows each fund’s carbon footprint and which companies are the main contributors. For 401k participants who don’t have direct control of selecting the funds offered in their retirement plan, As You Sow also provides advice on how to speak to their employers about expanding their company’s plan to include low-carbon options.
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