U.S. Wind Production Tax Credit Extended
On January 1, 2013, President Obama signed into law a bill that extends the renewable energy Production Tax Credit and offshore wind Investment Tax Credit through 2013. The production tax credit, which was scheduled to expire on December 31, 2012, provides a 2.2-cent tax break for every kilowatt-hour of electricity produced from large-scale wind farms. “We are pleased that tax credits will now be extended for wind power projects that start construction over the next year, allowing for continued growth of American wind power”, said Matt Patsky, CEO of Trillium Asset Management. “The credit has increased energy diversity and reduced …
Trillium Withdraws Shareholder Proposal at Apple Inc.
In response to Trillium’s recent shareholder proposal regarding privacy issues, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has updated its Board’s Audit and Finance Committee charter to include responsibility regarding regulatory, legislative, and reputational privacy risks that confront the company. Trillium’s proposal, which highlighted the business and social privacy risk and impacts that come with handling personal information, sought more clarity regarding Board oversight of these issues. The improvements to Apple Inc.’s governance will help the company protect the privacy of its customers and the wellbeing of the company. Accordingly, Trillium is pleased to withdraw the shareholder proposal. “We very much appreciated having …
Financial Advisor Magazine: CARS™ – A Go-To Place for Advisors to Evaluate Nonprofit Loan Funds
Financial Advisor Magazine recently published a story on CARS™ (the CDFI Assessment Rating System), which was founded in 2004 by Opportunity Finance Network and launched as a stand-alone organization in 2012. Ellie Winninghoff writes, “Local wind-farms that finance services for low-income people. Microfinance for Native Americans. Conservation easements that protect working waterfronts and the lobster industry in Maine. These are the types of activities financed by community development finance institutions, or CDFIs, most of which are revolving loan funds that serve minorities and low-income people. But while there is huge interest in them by impact investors, it can be baffling …
Shareholders Ask Citigroup Board to Explore Structural Changes
BOSTON, MA, NOVEMBER 14, 2012: Trillium Asset Management LLC, on behalf of the Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica, along with the AFSCME Employees Pension Plan recently filed a shareholder proposal with Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) asking the company’s board of directors to explore a possible separation of one or more of its business units. Citigroup’s shares have consistently traded below book value since late 2008, it failed the Federal Reserve’s CCAR stress tests in March 2012, and regulators continue to forbid it from returning significant capital to stockholders due to concerns over its financial stability. “Despite some positive steps …
AT&T Takes a Small Step Toward Net Neutrality
AT&T (NYSE: T) announced last week that it will be allowing more of its customers to use Apple’s video chat service FaceTime over its cellular network. Despite the revised policy, however, many of AT&T’s customers will still be left out. While, as investors, we are pleased that AT&T has taken this step, we remain concerned that the company has not rolled out the service to all of its customers. AT&T is not transparent and has not evidenced practices to guide implementation of its stated positions on an open Internet. Late last year, Trillium and OpenMIC filed a shareholder proposal calling …
W.W. Grainger Adds Gender Identity and Expression Language to its Equal Opportunity Employment Guidelines
Following a brief dialogue with Trillium, W.W. Grainger (NYSE: GWW) – which is a Fortune 500 company – has updated its Business Conduct Guidelines and employee handbook to explicitly prohibited discrimination on the basis of gender identity and 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. The Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index notes that nearly 70% of the Fortune 100 and 43% of the Fortune 500 prohibit discrimination based on gender identity or expression; an indication that companies are taking gender identity protections seriously. State …
Missoula Independent Op-Ed: Wind Power is a Job Creator–with the Right Tax Breaks
The Missoula Independent recently published an Op-Ed column which was co-authored by Trillium’s CEO, Matt Patsky and Kristina Curtis, Senior Vice President of Green Century Capital Management and President of the Green Century Funds. The column reads, in part: “As investors, we look for growth stories, and until very recently, wind power had an exciting plot. The United States is now generating 20 times more electricity from wind than it did in 2000, and nearly nine gigawatts—the equivalent of nine nuclear power stations—are under construction. Wind power provides more than nine percent of power generation in Colorado, 10 percent in …
Trillium Files Shareholder Resolution with Apple Regarding Privacy Concerns
Trillium Asset Management recently filed a shareholder resolution on behalf of our clients at Apple Inc., regarding privacy concerns. Apple has confronted a number of cyber-security and privacy controversies including unauthorized access to iPhone users’ address books; Unique Device ID (UDID) related litigation and the release of one million UDIDs and security concerns related to iCloud. The controversies have drawn the attention of the U.S. Congress and the ACLU. In light of the societal and business risks created by digital technologies and the significant amounts of personal information that are handled by Apple we are concerned future controversies and litigation …
Trillium and Ceres Seek Nominations for the 2013 Joan Bavaria Award
Ceres and Trillium Asset Management are seeking nominations for the sixth annual Joan Bavaria Award. Submissions will be accepted until 5:00 p.m. ET on Monday, December 31, 2012. The Joan Bavaria Award honors a unique investor, business, or NGO leader who is working to transform the capital markets into a system that balances economic prosperity with social and environmental concerns. The winner of this year’s award will be announced at the 2013 Ceres Conference taking place May 1-2 at The Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. Bavaria founded both Ceres and Trillium Asset Management. She passed away in 2008 after a …
Houston Chronicle Op-Ed: Expiration of Tax Credit Threatens Wind Industry
The Houston Chronicle recently published an Op-Ed column which was co-authored by Trillium’s CEO, Matt Patsky and Kristina Curtis, Senior Vice President of Green Century Capital Management and President of the Green Century Funds. The column reads, in part: “As investors, we look for growth stories, and wind power has been a great one. The U.S. is generating 20 times more electricity from wind than it did in 2000, and nearly nine gigawatts – the equivalent of nine nuclear power stations – is under construction. Wind power provides more than 10 percent of power generation in five states and more …
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