Rio Tinto Announces it is Withdrawing from Pebble Mine Project in Alaska
Statement from Trillium Asset Management, LLC and Calvert Investments on Rio Tinto’s withdrawal from the Pebble Mine Project April 9, 2014: Rio Tinto plc (LON: RIO) has announced that it is withdrawing from the proposed Pebble Mine Project in Bristol Bay Alaska. This action, which casts a cloud of deep uncertainty over the project’s future, follows years of widespread opposition to the proposed open pit mine from Native Alaskans, sport and commercial fishing groups, environmental organizations, and retail grocers, along with other businesses and investors. In March, Trillium Asset Management (Trillium) and Calvert Investment Management, Inc. (Calvert) specifically requested that …
Responding to Pressure, General Mills Strengthens Palm Oil Commitment
APRIL 8, 2014 // BOSTON, MA: Responding to growing consumer and investor concern about the risks associated with palm oil production, General Mills (NYSE: GIS) became the latest company to pledge that it will not purchase palm oil that is linked to rampant destruction of the rainforest and carbon emissions. In its revised palm oil sourcing commitment, General Mills announced that it will only source from suppliers that can trace their palm oil back to operations verified as not contributing to deforestation or peatland development, activities which destroy the habitats for endangered species and drive climate change. Trillium Asset Management …
The Nation: Investors Lead Push for More Action on Climate Change
On April 6, 2014 The Nation published an article about the growing number of climate-related shareholder resolutions this season: “Motivated by mounting scientific evidence that human activity is a leading cause of climate change, major institutional investors are pushing for stronger action by companies in climate-related shareholder resolutions in the 2014 proxy season. The 35 institutional investors are led by Walden Asset Management, the New York State comptroller’s office, the California State teachers’ retirement system, Calvert Investments, the Connecticut Treasurer’s Office, Trillium Asset Management, Mercy Investments and Green Century capital management. They have filed 142 resolutions in a coordinated effort …
UN Report: Climate Change Impacting Entire Planet, Raising Risk of Hunger, Floods, Conflict
The effects of climate change are already occurring in all continents and across the oceans, and the world, for the most part, is ill-prepared for their risks, says a United Nations report issued on March 31, 2014, which also warns that while action can be taken, managing the phenomenon’s impacts will be difficult on a rapidly warming planet. The Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has detailed the impacts of climate change to date, the future risks from a changing climate, and the opportunities for effective action to reduce risks. You can read the entire report, …
Winston-Salem Journal: Duke Investors Call for Internal Probe of Spill
Trillium is one of many concerned investors that have called on Duke Energy to launch an independent investigation into the recent Dan River coal ash spill. Taft Wireback, of The Winston-Salem Journal, writes: “[C]oncerned investors include the state treasurers of Connecticut, Oregon and Pennsylvania, and leaders of the California State Teachers’ Retirement System and the Illinois State Board of Investment. ‘Duke’s recent environmental problems suggest serious lapses in oversight as well as failures in risk management by the board of directors,’ said Bill Dempsey, senior vice president of the Nathan Cummings Foundation, which is leading the shareholder initiative… Other investors …
Bloomberg: SEC Probes Threat from Cyber Attacks Against Wall Street
Bloomberg has published an article about the SEC Cybersecurity Roundtable which took place on March 26, 2014 in Washington, DC. Trillium’s Director of Shareholder Advocacy, Jonas Kron, was a panelist at the roundtable. Dave Michaels and Chris Strohm write: “The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is examining the exposure of stock exchanges, brokerages and other Wall Street firms to cyber-attacks that have been called a threat to financial stability… [The] event was spurred by SEC Commissioner Luis A. Aguilar, who today called for the agency to establish a cybersecurity task force… Companies’ public reports so far about cyber-attacks have mostly …
Trillium’s Jonas Kron to be Panelist at SEC Cybersecurity Roundtable
March 25, 2014: Jonas Kron, Trillium’s Director of Shareholder Advocacy, will be a panelist at the Securities and Exchange Commission’s March 26th roundtable on the issues and challenges cybersecurity presents for market participants and public companies. The roundtable will be divided into four panels. Participants on the first panel will discuss the cybersecurity landscape. Jonas will be a member of the second panel which will discuss cybersecurity disclosure issues faced by public companies. Participants on the third panel will discuss the cybersecurity issues faced by exchanges and other key market systems. On the final panel, participants will discuss how broker-dealers, …
Trillium Successfully Withdraws Political Spending Transparency Proposal at Hess
March 25, 2014: Trillium Asset Management is pleased to announce that following our engagement with Hess Corp. (NYSE: HES) the company has committed to fully disclose its trade association memberships and the other tax exempt organizations which it makes contributions to, as well as the portion of those payments that are used for political activities. In recognition of this progress, Trillium has withdrawn its 2014 shareholder proposal at Hess. A similar shareholder proposal, filed by Trillium for 2013, received a remarkable 46% of the vote. We encourage the company to take further steps to strengthen its transparency and …
B Corp Rates Trillium as one of 2014’s “Best for the World for Overall Impact”
Trillium Asset Management was among 92 companies worldwide which were recently recognized for creating the most positive overall social and environmental impact by the nonprofit B Lab with the release of the third annual ‘B Corp Best for the World’ list. The ‘B Corp Best for the World’ list honors businesses that earned an overall score in the top 10% of all Certified B Corporations on the B Impact Assessment, a rigorous and comprehensive assessment of a company’s impact on its workers, community, and the environment. Check out the full list at bestfortheworld.bcorporation.net. …
Trillium’s Shareholder Proposal with National Fuel Gas to Update Non-Discrimination Policy Receives 33.6% of Votes
March 20, 2014: During the last quarter of 2013 Trillium Asset Management (Trillium) filed a shareholder resolution with National Fuel Gas Company (NYSE: NFG) asking the company to include “gender identity or expression” in its written non-discrimination policy. It was the first time that Trillium filed this resolution with NFG. The Security and Exchange Commission requires that shareholder resolutions receive a minimum of 3% in the first year in order for shareholders to re-file the next year. Trillium’s resolution received 33.6% of shareholder votes – 11x the percentage needed to re-file. Trillium introduced the resolution at NFG’s annual meeting on …
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