Green Century Launches Animated Fossil Fuel Free Investing Video
Green Century Capital Management has launched an animated fossil fuel free investing educational video and outreach program to educate the public and reach potential investors who are interested in moving their investments out of fossil fuel companies for moral and financial reasons. The video shows a family who cares about the planet and already takes action against global warming by using more energy-efficient light bulbs and signing petitions, yet without realizing it, might be financing the very companies that are fueling climate change—resulting in damaging storms and wildfires – through their mutual fund investments. You can watch the video here. …
San Jose Mercury News: Individual Investors Begin to Divest from Fossil Fuel
The San Jose Mercury News recently ran an article about the growing fossil fuel divestment movement. Dana Hull writes: “It’s impossible to track with accuracy how many individual investors have joined the effort, or how much money has been moved out of fossil fuel companies due to privacy issues regarding individual portfolios. But financial advisers say they are hearing from more clients who are at least taking a deeper look at their investments. ‘It’s coming up a lot in conversation,’ said Will Lana, a senior vice president at Trillium Asset Management, a Boston-based firm that is the oldest independent investment …
Ceres: Shareholders Seeking Stronger Responses from Companies as Climate Change Concerns Deepen
Record high climate-related resolutions seek improvements on issues like greenhouse gas reductions, flaring cutbacks and increased sustainable palm oil sourcing March 7, 2014: Motivated by mounting scientific evidence that human activity is a leading cause of climate change; major institutional investors are pushing for stronger actions from companies in climate-related shareholder resolutions in the 2014 proxy season. 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, 35 institutional investors have filed 142 resolutions in a coordinated …
Trillium Successfully Withdraws Board Diversity Proposal at Wabtec
March 10, 2014: Trillium Asset Management is pleased to announce that it has withdrawn its shareholder proposal at Wabtec Corporation (NYSE: WAB) following the company’s agreement to institutionalize a commitment to board diversity inclusive of gender, race and ethnicity. Trillium’s shareholder proposal, which was filed on behalf of Rebekah Helzel, asked the company to: Publicly commit itself to a policy of Board inclusiveness to ensure that women and minority candidates are routinely sought as part of every Board search the company undertakes; At the time of the filing, Wabtec had no woman on its board of directors …
Investor Statement on EPA’s Review of Proposed Pebble Mine
March 7, 2014: Investors, concerned with the devastating impact a large scale mining operation would have on the Bristol Bay region of Alaska, welcomed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recent announcement that it will initiate a Clean Water Act 404(c) review process for the proposed project. Bristol Bay is the home of the largest wild sockeye salmon fishery in the world, which is sustainably managed and central to the life of the Alaska Natives in the region. Protecting this national resource is important for the economy, sound resource development and the finances of companies that sell salmon. We believe that …
Bloomberg Businessweek: Chipotle Asked to Back Up Image with Sustainability Report
Bloomberg Businessweek recently published a story about Trillium’s shareholder resolution, co-filed with Domini Social Investments, which asks Chipotle Mexican Grille (NYSE: CMG) to: “[I]ssue an annual sustainability report describing the company’s short- and long-term responses to ESG-related issues”. Leslie Patton writes: “Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. which touts its natural ingredients and humanely raised meat, is being asked to show whether it practices what it preaches…Trillium and Domini are asking that Chipotle, along with more disclosure about the company’s farming standards, give shareholders more information on its carbon footprint, such as food packaging and store water use, as well as labor …
Apple’s Supply Chain Using Only Conflict-Free Tantalum
In February 2014, Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) announced that all of the tantalum smelters used by its suppliers are conflict-free. Trillium Asset Management commends Apple’s leadership in supporting ethical sourcing of minerals and economic development in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and neighboring regions. In our view, Apple’s strategy to source clean minerals from the DRC is sound risk management. The company’s 2014 Supplier Responsibility Report includes a comprehensive list of the smelters and refiners whose tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold has been verified as conflict-free and which ones have not received independent verification. This information allows investors and …
EPA Moves to Protect Bristol Bay Fishery from Pebble Mine
FEBRUARY 28, 2014 // WASHINGTON, DC: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is initiating a process under the Clean Water Act to identify appropriate options to protect the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery in Bristol Bay, Alaska from the potentially destructive impacts of the proposed Pebble Mine. The Pebble Mine has the potential to be one of the largest open pit copper mines ever developed and could threaten a salmon resource rare in its quality and productivity. During this process, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cannot approve a permit for the mine. This action, requested by EPA Administrator Gina …
Nathan Cummings Foundation: Grant Makers are Ignoring One of their Most Powerful Tools
Laura Campos, Director of Shareholder Activities for the Nathan Cummings Foundation, recently wrote an opinion piece for Philanthropy.com that highlights recent shareholder activism. Ms. Campos writes: “Over the past year, shareholder activists racked up a list of accomplishments that would be the envy of many foundations. They secured agreements from some of the world’s largest companies to set targets for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. They persuaded companies to be more transparent and accountable with corporate political spending and to abandon support for controversial organizations like the American Legislative Exchange Council, also known as ALEC. They pushed companies to adopt plans to increase …
Investors Urge President Obama and EPA Administrator McCarthy to Take Steps to Protect Bristol Bay Region of Alaska
On February 24, 2014, a coalition of concerned investors, lead by Trillium Asset Management and Calvert Investment Management, sent a letter to President Obama and U.S. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) Administrator McCarthy urging the EPA to initiate a Clean Water Act 404(c) process to provide long term protection for the Bristol Bay region of Alaska. In January 2014, the EPA released its final assessment of Potential Mining Impacts on Salmon Ecosystems of Bristol Bay, Alaska which states that large scale mining such as the proposed Pebble Mine has “potential for significant effects on Alaska Native cultures” and “the significant loss …
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