March 25, 2015: Shareholders sent a strong message to the management of National Fuel Gas Company (NYSE: NFG) earlier this month, with one in three votes cast in favor of a company-wide non-discrimination policy inclusive of gender identity or expression. This is the second consecutive year that Trillium Asset Management’s shareholder proposal garnered more than one third of the votes cast for the proposal — and against management’s recommendation. The shareholder proposal filed by Trillium on behalf of our client, The Social Justice Fund NW, requests the Board of Directors to: amend the company’s written equal employment opportunity policy to …

MARCH 18, 2015: In response to Trillium’s recent shareholder proposal regarding privacy issues, Priceline Group (NASDAQ: PCLN) has committed to update its Board’s Audit Committee charter and proxy materials to include responsibility regarding regulatory, legislative, and reputational privacy and data security 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 Priceline’s governance will help the company protect the privacy of its customers and the wellbeing of the company. Accordingly, Trillium is pleased to withdraw …

MARCH 9, 2015: Trillium Asset Management (Trillium) is pleased to announce that we have withdrawn our shareholder proposal with Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU), following the company’s commitment to provide strong reporting of its political spending, both direct and indirect. Kansas City Southern has made a public commitment to inform the trade associations that it belongs to that the company’s membership dues are not to be used for political purposes. Additionally, KSU’s policy will not allow corporate funds to be used for, or provide corporate contributions to support, 527 independent expenditure groups, Super PACs, or 501(c)(4) organizations. “Providing this kind …

MARCH 5, 2015: Trillium Asset Management has joined a group of over 60 investors, from Europe, North America and Australia with a combined $3.9 trillion of assets under management, who are urging leading companies to use new guidance to help them “know and show” their management of human rights risks. In a joint statement the investors backed the new ‘UN Guiding Principles Reporting Framework’, published last week, and said they aim to incentivize better corporate governance, management and reporting of human rights risks. The investors signing the statement include some of the world’s largest and most influential investors including: Boston …

MARCH 4, 2015: Trillium Asset Management (Trillium) is pleased to announce that we have withdrawn our shareholder proposal at The Home Depot (NYSE: HD), which was filed on behalf of Paul LeFort and co-filed with Zevin Asset Management, after the company set quantitative goals for the sourcing and/or production of renewable energy. In making these commitments, Home Depot joins a growing number of companies that have already demonstrated the feasibility of investing in renewable energy to reduce emissions and power their businesses. “Companies, especially those of Home Depot’s size, have the opportunity to drive significant change in the demand and …

Letter Comes Ahead of Pending Report From White House Pollinator Task Force MARCH 2, 2015: Trillium Asset Management has joined more than 125 conservation, beekeeping, food safety, religious, ethnic and farming advocacy groups who are urging President Obama and the Environmental Protection Agency to take swift and meaningful action to protect honey bees and other pollinators from toxic pesticides. “It’s time to stop pesticides from killing our bees,” said Lori Ann Burd, Environmental Health director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “If bees and other pollinators are going to have a real future in this country, President Obama needs to …

MARCH 2, 2015: Following a productive dialogue between Trillium Asset Management (Trillium) and Minerals Technologies (NYSE: MTX), Trillium has withdrawn our shareholder proposal after the company expanded its Equal Opportunity and Anti-Harassment policies to explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity. Trillium believes that companies and workers benefit from consistent, corporate-wide, efforts to prevent discrimination, ensuring a respectful and supportive atmosphere for all employees. “Mineral Technologies had lagged its sector peers in providing protections for gender identity in its non-discrimination policy,” said Brianna Murphy, Trillium’s Vice President Shareholder Advocacy and Corporate Engagement. “As investors, we are pleased that …

FEBRUARY 25, 2015: Investors in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) today welcomed the Federal Communications Commission’s anticipated adoption of new network neutrality rules and urged Verizon to do the same by publicly committing not to initiate or support litigation that would undercut the rules. A shareholder proposal asking Verizon’s board to report on the risks to the company posed by its continuing opposition to net neutrality is to be voted on at the company’s 2015 annual meeting in Minneapolis on Thursday, May 7th. A similar proposal last year won 26.4% of the shareholder vote, representing $30.6 billion of Verizon shares. Verizon …

FEBRUARY 10, 2015: As the green bonds market continues to show impressive growth, leading investors including Trillium Asset Management, today released a Statement of Investor Expectations to support the development of a consistent, durable framework for the green bonds market, which has enormous potential to grow, especially in regard to clean energy financing and other solutions to climate change. The investor group was convened by Ceres’ Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), a network of major institutional investors. The investor group, made up of substantial purchasers of green bonds including pension funds, insurance companies and asset management firms, voiced support …

February 4, 2015: Shareholders of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) welcomed today’s announcement by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler that he intends to propose strong new network neutrality rules and regulate Internet providers with Title II of the Communications Act, the most powerful law available to the FCC. The investors also urged Verizon to carefully weigh the risks presented by the company’s continuing opposition to the FCC’s network neutrality principles. A shareholder proposal asking Verizon’s board to report on those risks is scheduled to be voted on at the company’s annual meeting in May. “It’s time for Verizon …