Proxy Voting Guidelines 2015

As You Sow has been filing shareholder resolutions for over 20 years, addressing critical issues like climate change, environmental health, and resource reduction. We’ve worked through pushback from companies by bringing shareholders together to send strong messages with their proxy votes, leading to major industry shifts. Your vote in support of our resolutions sends a powerful message.

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Proxy Preview 2015

Proxy Preview 2015 covers the record-breaking 433 social and environmental shareholder resolutions filed so far this proxy season, with political spending and climate change driving the majority of the activity. The report provides analysis and expert insight to help you navigate the issues and successfully vote your shares.

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The 100 Most Overpaid CEOs 2015

CEO pay has grown nearly 1,000% over the past four decades, far exceeding growth in median worker pay or company share prices. Our new report, The 100 Most Overpaid CEOs: Executive Compensation at S&P 500 Companies, highlights the 100 most overpaid CEOs and examines the forces behind the trend of ever-increasing CEO pay.

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Waste and Opportunity 2015

Waste and Opportunity 2015, a new report from As You Sow and the Natural Resources Defense Council, takes an in-depth look at the packaging practices of 47 fast food chains, beverage companies, and consumer goods, highlighting leaders and laggards in the field.

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Disclosing the Facts 2014: Transparency and Risk in Hydraulic Fracturing Operations

Disclosing the Facts 2014: Transparency and Risk in Hydraulic Fracturing Operations, an update to our 2013 report analyzing whether companies report their practices and progress in reducing risks of their hydraulic fracturing operations, was released today by As You Sow, Boston Common Asset Management, Green Century Capital Management, and the Investor Environmental Health Network.

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Green Bonds in Brief

Green Bonds in Brief: Risk, Reward, and Opportunity, a new report from As You Sow and the Cornell Institute for Public Affairs, offers a look at how green bonds, an exciting financial instrument directing funds to environmental and climate projects, offer an opportunity for both investors and issuers to encourage sustainable growth.

Green bonds are on track to provide forty billion dollars in 2014 and one hundred billion dollars in 2015 to green projects such as energy efficiency, renewable power, and cleaner transit.

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Proxy Preview 2014

Proxy Preview 2014 covers the record-breaking 417 social and environmental shareholder resolutions filed this proxy season, with political spending and climate change driving the majority of the activity.

Visit proxypreview.org to download the newest edition of this report.

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Disclosing the Facts 2013: Transparency and Risk in Hydraulic Fracturing Operations

Companies across the board are failing to report reductions of their impacts on communities and the environment from hydraulic fracturing.

The oil & gas production industry is consistently failing to report measurable reductions of its impacts on communities and the environment from hydraulic fracturing operations, according to a scorecard report released by As You Sow, Boston Common Asset Management, Green Century Capital Management, and the Investor Environmental Health Network.

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CleanTech Redefined

After years in development, cleantech is now going mainstream. Cleantech infrastructure, technology and services are revolutionizing how we make, grow, transport and consume things. They’re helping the world meet energy demands. They’re creating livelihoods and prosperity in uncertain economies. Is there still time for investors to make good returns in cleantech? Yes. Here’s why.

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The Coal Divestment Toolkit: Moving Endowments Beyond Coal

Divestment is the process of selling an asset for either financial or social goals.i Divestment is a powerful way to take a stand against companies involved in an activity that is morally reprehensible. This strategy has been used to send a strong message and to force change in corporate policies and governance. Through divestment campaigns, shareholders (the people and organizations that own corporate stock) take responsibility for the actions of the companies they own and demand change or sell their shares.

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    The Reinvestment Handbook: Green Endowments Initiative

    The Reinvestment Handbook is a resource for the next generation of responsible investors. It is designed to help students better understand their university endowment, the key pillars of SRI funds including screening for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals, performance of ESG investments, funds, and portfolios, and basic finance concepts.

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    Proxy Preview 2013

    This ninth edition of the Proxy Preview provides an overview of votes on environmental and social shareholder resolutions—including advocacy sections for 2013´s most prominent issues.

    Our team of issue experts includes Ken Bertsch, CEO and President of the Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals, John Ruggie, Professor of Human Rights and International Affairs, Harvard University, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President, Water Keeper Alliance, along with leading voices from socially responsible investors, religious institutional investors, pension funds and unions, foundations, students, and shareholder advocacy organizations.

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    Slipping Through the Cracks: an Issue Brief on Nanomaterials in Foods

    Slipping Through the Cracks is designed to inform companies, investors, and consumers about the emerging use of engineered nanomaterials in food and food related products. It highlights the potential risks of nanotechnology for companies who are knowingly or unknowingly using it in their products and for public health.

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    Proxy Preview 2012

    This eighth edition of the Proxy Preview provides an overview of upcoming votes on environmental and social shareholder resolutions—including advocacy sections for 2012´s most prominent issues and case studies of successful dialogues.

    Our team of issue experts highlight this year´s key issues, including corporate political spending, lobbying, sexual orientation non-discrimination, board diversity, coal, fracking, supply chain transparency, extended producer responsibility, and animal welfare.

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    Clean & Green: Best Practices in Photovoltaics

    This report presents, in non-scientific language, the process of manufacturing PV panels, the risks involved, and how companies mitigate those risks. It focuses on practices and policies companies use to mitigate risks from hazardous compounds, reduce environmental impact, and responsibly manage their supply chains.

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      Update: Financial Risks of Investments in Coal

      As You Sow’s Update to the White Paper provides a snapshot of the current trends underlying five financial risks for investments in coal: for mining companies, they are driving shifts in generator demand away from coal; for electric utilities, they are making “cheap coal” costly compared to other generating options or increased efficiency.

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        Unfinished Business: The Case for Extended Producer Responsibility for Post-consumer Packaging

        In Unfinished Business: The Case for Extended Producer Responsibility for Post-Consumer Packaging, As You Sow describes how extended producer responsibility would boost the U.S. packaging recycling rates and transform how recycling is funded.

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          White Paper: Financial Risks of Investments in Coal

          The White Paper demonstrates that these risks combine to make current and future investments in coal-dependent utilities and coal mining companies exceedingly precarious.

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              Sourcing Framework for Food and Food Packaging Products Containing Nanomaterials

              As You Sow’s first-of-its-kind framework is designed to help food companies make informed decisions regarding sourcing products containing nanomaterials.

               

               

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                Proxy Preview 2011

                Proxy Preview 2011 is the seventh edition of an annual report than in 2008 the Chicago Tribune called the “Bible for socially progressive foundations, religious groups, pension funds, and tax-exempt organizations.”

                It is a comprehensive review of the nearly 400 social and environmental resolutions investors filed in 2011.

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