CFA Society Boston to Host 5th Annual Sustainable Investing Seminar
October 31, 2017 // Boston, MA: On Monday, November 13, CFA Society Boston will host its 5th Sustainable Investing Seminar, Sustainable Investing: Moving into the Mainstream, an annual event that helps mainstream financial professionals navigate sustainable investing challenges. As companies have become more environmentally and socially focused, sustainable investors are moving away from divestment and towards using Sustainable Investing data to look for opportunities as well as moving into thematic and impact investing. New platforms continue to be developed to measure sustainability and provide more transparent and reliable data. However, work continues to standardize company reporting and educate both investors and …
Acuity Brands Expands Workplace Policies to Protect LGBT Employees
October 30, 2017 //Boston, MA – Trillium Asset Management is pleased to announce that we have successfully withdrawn our workplace equality shareholder proposal at Acuity Brands (NYSE: AYI) following the company’s changes to its Code of Ethics and Business Conduct to explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. Trillium believes that companies and workers benefit from consistent, corporate-wide, efforts to prevent discrimination, ensuring a respectful and supportive atmosphere for all employees. Research from the Williams Institute has also shown that LGBT-supportive policies lead to positive business outcomes, lower staff turnover, and increased job …
Trillium’s Economic & Market Outlook Now Available: Third Quarter 2017
October 12, 2017// Boston, MA – Equity markets expressed persistent optimism in the third quarter, climbing steadily in the face of geopolitical tension and policy uncertainty. Even amid two of the most destructive hurricanes in U.S. history, many market participants seemed to focus only on the stimulatory potential of rebuilding activity. While recognizing the economic opportunities posed by recent events, we believe that a close scrutiny of current and historical data trends justifies a more moderate outlook. U.S. GDP growth in the second quarter captured some of the delayed activity that caused weak first quarter growth, jumping from 1.2% to …
Trillium Joins Amicus Brief to End LGBTQ Employment Discrimination
October 11, 2017 // Boston, MA – Today, Trillium joins Lambda Legal and 75 other businesses and organizations urging the U.S. Supreme Court to prohibit sexual orientation discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The amicus brief addresses the inconsistency with which two federal courts have interpreted ‘sex’ and whether discrimination based on sexual orientation is a form of sex discrimination. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals have each arrived at different interpretations creating inconsistency for employers, employees, and LGBT individuals across six states. This discrepancy can only be resolved only by …
Bay Area Office Moves to the Heart of Downtown San Francisco
San Francisco, CA // October 9, 2017 – We are proud to announce the relocation of our San Francisco office to 160 Spear Street in Downtown San Francisco. Trillium’s new office opened on August 1, 2017. Since opening our San Francisco location in 1996, we have helped our clients invest their money in alignment with their values. It has been an exciting twenty-one years and we look forward to continuing the Trillium legacy at this new location. “It is a pleasure welcoming our clients and partners to the convenient San Francisco space,” says Will Lana, Partner and Investment Manager at …
Aflac Commits to Improved Workplace Diversity Reporting
September 26, 2017 // Boston, MA – Trillium Asset Management is pleased to announce that we have successfully withdrawn our workforce diversity shareholder proposal at Aflac Incorporated (NYSE: AFL) following the company’s expanded disclosure around workplace diversity. Trillium’s shareholder proposal requested that the company prepare a report adequate for investors to assess Aflac’s strategy and performance pertaining to workforce diversity, including a chart identifying employees according to gender and race in the major Equal Employment Opportunity Commission-defined job categories. A McKinsey & Company report found companies with highly diverse executive teams had higher returns on equity and earnings performance than …
Trillium Honored by B Lab on 2017 Best for the World Overall List
September 18, 2017 // Boston, MA – For a fifth consecutive year, Trillium Asset Management was recognized on B Lab’s as Best for the World Overall List for generating positive social and environmental impact alongside 175 other organizations and businesses. Every year, B Lab, a non-profit organization helping companies manage corporate social responsibility, recognizes businesses that have earned an overall score in the top 10% of approximately 1,800 Certified B Corporations on the B Impact Assessment. The assessment analyzes a company’s contributions to community development, employees, governance, and the environment. Trillium became a certified B Corporation in June 2008 and was the fourth financial …
After the Clean Power Plan: Utilities, Clean Energy & a Greener Future
By Elizabeth R. Levy, CFA, Vice President and Lead Manager, Fossil Fuel Free Core Strategy Given the politics and donor base of the current occupants of the White House and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator’s office, it would be reasonable to assume that the future of renewable energy is finished, vanished into a hydrocarbon- and particulate matter-laden haze. However, due in part to the tumbling prices of wind and solar technologies and the unpopularity of coal, that dystopian future seems unlikely to materialize, no matter how strongly the Administration might wish it so. To be sure, the administration is …
SF Examiner: Trillium’s Will Lana Makes Case for Divestment in Op-Ed
The San Francisco Examiner published an op-ed authored by Will Lana, Trillium Asset Management Partner and Investment Manager titled, “Growing Evidence Supports Fossil Fuel Divestment SF Pension”. On August 9th, the board of the San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System (SFERS) is expected to vote on whether to divest all fossil fuel holdings from the pension fund. In response to recent public opposition against divestment, the op-ed cites a growing a number of studies showing that divesting from fossil fuels does not reduce risk-adjusted returns. Growing Evidence Supports Fossil Fuel Divestment of SF Pension The Board of Supervisors unanimously supported it. …
Statement Regarding the Violence in Charlottesville, Virginia
Trillium Asset Management is profoundly concerned with President Donald Trump’s reaction to the violence perpetrated by neo-Nazis, KKK, and white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia recently. Our concerns are at their core moral in nature. As the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.” These fundamental principles are at the heart of who we are. But Trillium is also an investment firm and with that comes a unique perspective that we can …
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