June 23, 2015: The Boston Business Journal recently published a profile of Trillium’s CEO, Matt Patsky. Greg Ryan writes: “The first time Matthew Patsky raised the idea of focusing investments on socially and environmentally responsible companies, it didn’t go over so well. Working at Lehman Brothers in the 1980s, he approached his boss about the strategy. As Patsky recounts it, his boss leaned in and said, ‘Matt, it’s really nice you care about these issues, but if you don’t stop, it’ll destroy your career.’” You can read the entire profile here. (subscription may be required)   …

Over $1.1 trillion in investment and purchasing power asks companies for their Chemical Footprint. Signatories include Aviva Investors, BNP Paribas IP, Boston Common Asset Management, Trillium Asset Management, Dignity Health, Kaiser Permanente & Staples JUNE 22, 2015: You’ve heard of a company’s carbon footprint. Now it’s time for the chemical footprint. Despite growing regulatory efforts, businesses around the world continue to use chemicals of high concern to human health and environment. Formaldehyde and toxic phthalates in flooring are but two examples of hazardous chemicals that have caused health issues for consumers and financial and reputation problems for companies and their …

June 16, 2015: Trillium Asset Management is pleased to announce that our firm has been invited to participate in today’s White House Clean Energy Investment Summit. Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to deliver remarks highlighting more than $4 billion of independent commitments by major foundations, institutional investors, and other long-term investors to fund climate change solutions, including innovative technologies with breakthrough potential to reduce carbon pollution. These commitments surpass the Administration’s initial Clean Energy Investment Initiative goal of catalyzing $2 billion, first announced earlier this year. In addition to Vice President Biden’s remarks, today’s Summit will feature senior administration …

Group urges RSPO to strengthen protections for forests, human rights JUNE 1, 2015 // BOSTON, MA:  Institutional investors, including Trillium Asset Management, representing over $5 trillion in assets have joined together with some of the world’s largest and most recognizable consumer brands, including PepsiCo and Procter & Gamble, to call on the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) to strengthen its standards for certifying the sustainable production of palm oil – a key ingredient found in an estimated 50 percent of all packaged goods, from cosmetics to candy. In a letter submitted today to the RSPO just before its European …

Global group of investors call for important changes to proposed EU regulation MAY 2015: As the European Parliament prepares for its final vote on the European conflict minerals regulations on Wednesday, May 20, 2015, Trillium Asset Management has joined two dozen sustainable, and responsible investors and investment organizations to call upon the Parliament to make the proposed regulation stronger by expanding the scope of the legislation to ensure that all companies placing minerals on the market, in raw form or contained in semi-finished or finished goods, are legally required to source responsibly. In response to the recent regulation proposed by …

By The Portfolio 21 Investment Team Both founded in 1982, Trillium and Portfolio 21 have been in the Sustainable and Responsible Investing (SRI) field for decades. With the growing recognition and popularity of Sustainable and Responsible Investing (SRI), the merger comes at a very natural time. Trillium’s domestic equity expertise, marketing and distribution capability and larger scale will allow the Global Equity Strategy to become more cost competitive while at the same time offering Trillium clients a broader range of products including separately managed accounts and now a mutual fund. Over the years, Portfolio 21 and Trillium have collaborated on …

May 5, 2015: Shareholders of PepsiCo* (“Pepsi”), concerned about the sharp declines in the number of bees and other important pollinators, are urging the Company to assess the financial risks it faces due to the decline of critical pollinators across its supply chains. The investors will gather at Pepsi’s annual meeting on May 6th, to vote on a shareholder proposal urging the Company report on its strategies to reduce high-risk pesticides linked to this concerning decline. The proposal, filed by Trillium Asset Management, the Sustainability Group of Loring, Wolcott & Coolidge and Green Century Capital Management was prompted by growing …

APRIL 28, 2015: Fifty-Five organizations and investors, including Trillium Asset Management, sent a letter to Mary Jo White, Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), requesting that the SEC require disclosure of corporate political spending. The groups ranged from environmental groups to asset managers to religious organizations. “The resources of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are required to write numerous rules, police the markets, and react to changes in company structure,” the letter stated. “To enact its mandate to protect investors, the SEC needs to require material disclosures of critical business information for investors, and this includes …

By Brianna Murphy, Vice President, Shareholder Advocacy As Trillium continues our focus on how investors can address climate change and greenhouse gas (GHG) issues our firm is increasingly engaging with companies around renewable energy and the role it plays in climate change strategies. Renewable energy has proven itself as a way to boost corporate profitability while addressing the risks of climate change [1]. What was once considered a costly altruistic purchase we believe is now an attractive investment – clean energy is becoming the new normal. The cost of renewable energy has steadily fallen over the last decade – solar …