“Look at the long list of car companies and countries that have stated that electric transport ONLY is in the near future; look at the price of renewable infrastructure and batteries dropping,” Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow, and co-author of the report, told Oilprice.com. “This is the classic example of commodities vs. technology.”
Read MoreNow there is a tool, the website Fossil Free Funds, that helps pinpoint funds and E.T.F.s focused on companies withsmaller carbon footprints. “There were 10 funds when we started that we identified as fossil-fuel free,” said Andrew S. Behar, chief executive officer of As You Sow, the Oakland, Calif., environmental group that created Fossil Free Funds. “Now it’s up to 31.”
Read MoreAndrew Behar, author of The Shareholder Action Guide, stresses the importance of small shareholders to guide corporate America to make better decisions on behalf of both the companies and the public at large. “For 70 years the shareholder proposal rule has been an effective tool to support the ownership interests of all shareholders,” notes Behar. “The process gives us an essential tool to engage with boards and management to reduce risk and improve governance. Bottom line, shareholders provide a new and objective perspective to help make companies better in the long-term.”
Read More"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.
Read MoreAndrew 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.
Read More“We come from the shareholder-advocacy perspective. We saw a need for transparency,” says Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow, a nonprofit organization promoting corporate responsibility. As You Sow partnered with global environmentalist network Friends of the Earth to launch the database, which was inspired by a similar tool, focused on fossil fuels, designed by As You Sow in 2015.
Read More“What about the other side of the coin?” said Andrew Behar, who heads the Oakland, Calif.-based nonprofit As You Sow and helped create the ranking along with researchers at Corporate Knights. “What companies are actually taking part in what has been termed the greatest transition since the Industrial Revolution?”
Read MoreThe Carbon Clean 200, established by non-profit As You Sow and green media researchers Corporate Knights, highlights that companies investing in green energy products and services are outperforming fossil fuel companies by three to one in regards to revenue performance.
As You Sow’s chief executive and co-author of the report Andrew Behar said: “Our intention with The Clean200 is to begin a conversation that defines what companies will be part of the clean energy future. The Clean200 turns the ‘carbon bubble’ inside out. The list is far from perfect, but begins to show how it’s possible to accelerate and capitalise on the greatest energy transition since the industrial revolution.
Read MoreSince 1992, As You Sow has used shareholder advocacy to increase corporate responsibility on a broad range of environmental and social issues. As shareholder advocates, we communicate directly with corporate executives to collaboratively develop and implement business models which reduce risk, benefit brand reputation, and increase the bottom line—while simultaneously bringing positive environmental and social change.
Read More“In a carbon-constrained world, what’s going to happen with these companies?” asked Danielle Fugere, president and chief counsel of the activist group As You Sow. “Traditionally, they’ve had to replace their reserves, or the market penalizes them. So how do they make this transition that we think is necessary?”
Chevron’s corporate board, however, has recommended shareholders reject the proposal, calling it unnecessary and confusing. As You Sow, based in Oakland, has presented the same proposal to ExxonMobil shareholders for their annual meeting on Wednesday, with Exxon’s board also opposing the change.
“It would be making a statement that Big Oil is really Big Energy,” said Andrew Behar, As You Sow’s chief executive officer. “When we have conversations with them, they keep saying, ‘No, no, we’re an energy company.’ And we say, ‘But you report in oil.’ You are what you measure.”
As You Sow’s proposal would expand that notion of comparing one resource to another, measuring all of an oil company’s reserves or energy-generating assets in BTUs. (One BTU represents the amount of heat required to increase the temperature of 1 pound of water by 1 degree Fahrenheit.)
Read MoreAs with last year’s Proxy Preview report, the release of this year’s Proxy Preview 2017 was accompanied by a webinar. The speakers were report authors Heidi Welsh from Si2 and Michael Passoff of Proxy Impact, along with Tim Smith of Walden Asset Management and Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow.
Read MoreI’ll start by setting the record straight on the statistics Langert cites. He claims that As You Sow filed eight shareholder resolutions in 2015, none breaking 4 percent support and none resulting in a withdrawal. In fact, we filed or co-filed 35 resolutions in 2015, with average votes exceeding 25 percent, a strong outcome for environmentally focused shareholder resolutions.
For those resolutions where As You Sow was the lead filer, shares voted in support were valued at over $183 billion. We successfully negotiated withdrawals at Costco, Dunkin’ Brands Group and General Mills; As You Sow has a strong record of coming to agreements with companies that lead to withdrawal of shareholder resolutions. This information is readily available on our website.
Langert drew his information from the CERES data base, which is not intended to be a comprehensive list of ESG proposals but as a listing of resolutions relating to climate and some sustainability issues. A comprehensive list of ESG filings is available annually from the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) and from Proxy Preview (a publication of As You Sow with partners Si2 and Proxy Impact).
We pride ourselves on having our facts and economic analysis completely accurate in these public documents. We know that corporate attorneys will be looking for any reason to ask the SEC to not allow the resolution to go to a vote. In fact, many companies challenge resolutions whether there is cause or not. Last year As You Sow defended eight such challenges at the SEC, winning seven.
Langert suggests that As You Sow’s filing at Abbott Labs on GMOs was a "wrong target." Yet with just a 6 percent vote, the company agreed to introduce a non-GMO version of its Similac infant formula, which is now on store shelves.
As You Sow’s innovative climate resolutions sometimes earn strong votes and sometimes earn lower votes, but always introduce important new concepts to investors. For example, last year we filed a groundbreaking resolution at Chevron in collaboration with Arjuna Capital, which earned a low vote, but introduced the idea that shareholder capital is being wasted by continuing to invest in high cost, high carbon reserves that are likely to be stranded.
Ideas are powerful and even low votes can change the narrative and shift attitudes and policy. Nearly every major shareholder-driven corporate change started with a novel resolution, which As You Sow is particularly well known for introducing. Resolutions that push the envelope can require time and investor education to resonate and build consensus; they highlight important areas of business risk and often see increased shareholder support in subsequent years, resulting in critical corporate changes.
Langert surely must appreciate how As You Sow recently helped his alma mater, McDonald’s, eliminate 770 million polystyrene coffee cups per year at 14,000 stores, as well as our leading role for more than three years in a coalition of investors that co-developed "Project Kaleidoscope: a collaborative and dynamic approach to code of conduct compliance" to solve labor issues related to production of McDonald’s Happy Meal Toys.
The goal of shareholder advocates is not a vote or a withdrawal. The goal is to put forth new ideas and to work with companies to make real changes in corporate policy and practice that last over the long term. I speak for As You Sow and for our colleagues when I say that we advocate diligently and fearlessly on behalf of shareholders based on science and sound corporate environmental and social responsibility considerations. Our actions are founded on long-term strategic thinking. We hope that those observing our activities will take a more nuanced look at the important work that we do. I invite Langert to work with us to understand the goals, approaches and impact of shareholder advocacy, eliminate the myths and bring forth a new era of greater innovation and collaboration between companies and their shareholder advocates.
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