Over the last two years, we’ve seen a growing number of largely white male politicians, business leaders, and even journalists calling for the end of diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, initiatives at public corporations. Read More →
Danielle Fugere, president and chief counsel of As You Sow, was summoned before the committee in March along with the shareholder group’s CEO Andy Behar for 15 hours of questioning. Afterward, Fugere said Jordan’s staff couldn’t provide a legislative reason for why they needed such exhaustive information. Read More →
If you want fossil-fuel-free funds, check out this site run by shareholder advocate As You Sow. It also rates funds that own companies that finance and insure the fossil fuel industry. Read More →
Dozens of tidal gauges from the coast of North Carolina to the tip of Texas show sea levels are six inches higher today than in 2010 – an accelerated change that previously took 50 years. Most remarkable is that this coastal area along the Gulf of Mexico is rising at nearly twice the global average, according to this map recently published by the Washington Post. Read More →
These heavy metals make their way into your chocolate through the cacao bean, said Danielle Fugere, president and chief counsel at As You Sow, a nonprofit that worked with the chocolate industry to produce an investigative report on heavy metals in chocolate in 2022. Read More →
The House Judiciary Committee has delivered a clear message to the free market: shut up about climate change or pay the price. The Committee’s Chairman sent threatening letters and filed subpoenas to intimidate 14 mainstream investor organizations with a combined $105 trillion in assets under management, including As You Sow, the nonprofit that I lead. Read More →
I stand by my assessment and believe that Friedman, were he alive today, might even agree. Nobel laureate and Columbia economics professor Joseph Stiglitz would also agree, as he explained in a recent Washington Post op-ed, “Time is up for neoliberals.” Read More →
“This is a new chapter in a broader deregulatory story that’s a century old,” said Luke Morgan, an attorney with As You Sow, a shareholder advocacy nonprofit. “The reason that this has moved to focus on litigation is because the political movement failed. There was no popular support for this whatsoever.” Read More →
That’s what happened to our nonprofit, when the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter asking As You Sow and 13 other mainstream investor organizations to turn over all documents related to our work representing shareholders looking to reduce climate risk in their portfolios. Read More →
As You Sow — a nonprofit promoting corporate social responsibility — filed a proposal in December asking shareholders to impose a moratorium on sourcing minerals from deep seabeds. “We are seeing Tesla, the face of the EV transition, as a laggard,” said Elizabeth Levy, the nonprofit’s biodiversity program coordinator. Read More →
“Every company can be doing more,” said Kelly McBee, circular economy manager at As You Sow and one of the report’s co-authors. In particular, she said corporations should place more emphasis on reducing the plastic they use, rather than replacing virgin plastic with recycled content. Read More →
It appears that the Judiciary Committee is specifically trying to discourage our coordination because they see it as the key to reducing climate risk for the entire global economy. Therefore, I propose that the 14 of us actually do work together, with total transparency, to accomplish the task that the committee has laid before us. Read More →
New research conducted at the University of Waterloo (Canada) in partnership with the shareholder organization I lead, As You Sow, looked at the 401(k) plans of 12 tech-sector companies, including Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Netflix. On average, investments in fossil-free portfolios did 8.9% better over 10 years. Read More →
“Shareholders need to have a voice because management doesn’t always get it,” said Danielle Fugere, president of As You Sow, a left-leaning nonprofit foundation that is behind many proposals. “Boards are not always focused.” As You Sow put forward more than 80 shareholder proposals this year, including one on alleged employee harassment at carmaker Tesla and another on competitor General Motors’ policies on deep-sea mineral mining. Read More →
“Americans are behind. We think it puts companies at a competitive disadvantage globally, said Danielle Fugere, As You Sow’s president and chief counsel. “What we do is bring these issues to the board’s attention and let shareholders weigh in.” Read More →
“Last year As You Sow had 210 engagements and 99 companies agreed to take action, a great many of them on DEI disclosure,” he said, without naming the companies it had targeted. “We escalated 111 by filing shareholder resolutions; 56 agreed to terms and we withdrew. The remainder went to a vote which then led to more engagements and action by the vast majority companies.” Read More →
“Biodiversity proposals and commitments have become an overarching trend in 2024,” Elizabeth Levy, biodiversity programme coordinator at California-based non-profit As You Sow, told Carbon Pulse. “Investors are continuing to look at the biggest drivers of biodiversity loss – including certain land use practices in the agricultural industry – and engaging with companies on those topics.” Read More →
“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 →
As 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 →
Some 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 →
Last 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 →
Republicans are on a “crusade” against responsible investing, says Andrew Behar, CEO of the nonprofit group As You Sow that promotes corporate responsibility through shareholder advocacy. His group was subpoenaed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee this week as Republicans probe whether investments that take into account environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns violate antitrust laws. Read More →
Currently, 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 →
Kelly 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 →
Politicians 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 →
And 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 →
Wade into ESG by first collecting the stock or fund symbols for the holdings in your retirement accounts and investment portfolios. Then, recommended Young, run those symbols through the Invest Your Values assessment tool at As You Sow, a nonprofit that provides consumer-friendly snapshots of ESG rankings and data. 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 →
“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 →
Nonprofit As You Sow runs several databases geared toward helping everyday investors with an interest in ESG analyze mutual funds and ETFs using Morningstar data. One is Weapon Free Funds, which flags shares of arms makers in funds. Read More →