Trillium’s Sustainable Opportunities Strategy is One-Third as Carbon Intensive as its Benchmark
As of March 31, 2013 Trillium’s Sustainable Opportunities Strategy has been calculated to be 66.64% less carbon intensive than its benchmark, the S&P 1500® Index, on that date, according to a carbon footprint analysis conducted by Trucost, a leading environmental data and analysis firm. Trucost’s carbon intensity analysis is based on measuring the tons of carbon emissions per million dollars of revenue of the companies held by the strategy and those of the companies included in the S&P 1500® Index. Trillium’s Sustainable Opportunity Strategy seeks to provide long-term investment growth by investing in companies positioned to thrive during the transition …
Trillium’s 2013 Corporate Engagement Highlights
Over the course of the 2013 proxy season that just ended, Trillium directly engaged over two dozen major U.S. corporations with shareholder proposals and hundreds more via sign-on letters and other forms of outreach. Our shareholder proposal engagements addressed a wide range of concerns including climate change, human rights, discrimination in the workplace, a free and open Internet, privacy and data security, financial institution responsibility, political and lobbying spending, and board diversity. While we cannot cover all of our work here, following are key highlights. Climate Change Fugitive methane emissions from natural gas production have a 72X greater impact on …
Sterling College: Aligning Our Investments with Our Values
Matthew Derr, President, Sterling College: July 2013 Founded in 1958, Sterling College is a leading voice in higher education for environmental stewardship and the liberal arts, located in Northern Vermont. Sterling was among the first colleges in the United States to focus on sustainability and environmental stewardship through academic majors in Ecology, Environmental Humanities, Outdoor Education, and Sustainable Agriculture. We believe that colleges and universities across the United States have an obligation to speak out on the critical environmental and social issues facing our country. Recognition of the calamitous effects of climate change is directly linked to the educational mission …
REITs – What are they, What Does Trillium Look for in REITs, and How Have REITS Performed since 2009?
Keith Mills, Senior Vice President, Head of Research: July 2013 What is a REIT? The REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) structure, signed into law in September 1960 by President Eisenhower to enable individual investors to own income-producing commercial real estate, is unique in the corporate structure and investing world. Per Internal Revenue Service rules, REITs do not pay federal corporate income taxes but are required to pay out 90% of their taxable net income in the form of a common stock dividend, which is then taxed at the shareholder level (ordinary income), avoiding the double taxation of dividends. As of …
Sasol Heeds Community's Call for Environmental Justice in Mossville, LA
Chemical company commits to introduce voluntary property purchase program for residents impacted by plant expansion plans. New York, NY – Thursday, July 25, 2013: Members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) and Sasol shareholders commend the company for its rapid and comprehensive response to appeals to work with the community of Mossville as it plans the expansion of its ethane cracker and gas-to-liquid (GTL) facility at Westlake. Last year Sasol, a South Africa-based energy and chemical company with extensive operations in North America, surprised community members by announcing a $21 billion expansion of its chemical plant next door …
109 Shareholder Resolutions Related to Climate Change and Fossil Fuel Use Yield Strong Results During 2013 Proxy Season
Investors win company commitments to address flaring and fracking; carbon bubble and methane emission resolutions win strong support BOSTON, MA // July 25, 2013: Investors achieved noteworthy victories during this year’s shareholder proxy season, with a near record 109 shareholder resolutions filed with 93 U.S. companies on hydraulic fracturing, flaring, fossil fuel reserve risks and other climate- and sustainability-related risks and opportunities. The majority of resolutions filed within the energy sector focus on strategies recently promoted by the International Energy Agency in its Redrawing the Energy-Climate Map report to reduce sector-wide greenhouse gas emissions at no net economic cost, and …
Investors Applaud DC District Court Decision to Uphold Section 1502 of the Dodd Frank Act (Conflict Minerals Disclosure)
July 24, 2013: We applaud the decision taken by the DC District Court decision on July 23rd to uphold the implementing rules for Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Act and to dismiss the lawsuit filed against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the Business Roundtable. As investors, we believe that the Section 1502 (Conflict Minerals Disclosure) of the Dodd-Frank Act provides a critical leverage point to address one of the root causes of the ongoing violence that has plagued the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for many years. …
US SIF Foundation Releases Guide for Retail Investors to Address Climate Change
WASHINGTON, DC // July 22, 2013: Today the US SIF Foundation released Investing to Curb Climate Change: A Guide for the Individual Investor. This guide seeks to meet the increasing interest of a wide range of investors in using their investment dollars to address the risks of climate change and to help generate solutions. The guide highlights strategies that retail investors can use not only to address climate change within their own holdings of stocks, mutual funds, fixed income and cash instruments, but also to encourage institutions in their communities to adopt more climate-sensitive investment policies. The guide also suggests …
United Nations, Major Investment Firms Call for Increased Focus on Carbon Risk Management and Carbon Accounting in Investment Industry
London // July 19, 2013: Institutional investors should start measuring, disclosing and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with their investments and portfolios to reduce policy, regulatory and financial risks associated with these emissions, a new Investor Briefing launched by the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) said today. The briefing was developed jointly by UNEP and a group of leading investors, including Allianz, Aviva, Hermes, HSBC, Eurizon Capital, Inflection Point Capital, Pax World Investments, Robeco SAM and Trillium Asset Management. It argues that carbon footprinting is one of several key tools that investors should use to understand, …
Sterling College Completes Fossil Fuel Divestment of its Endowment Fund
July 17, 2013 / / Craftsbury Common, VT: Sterling College, an environmentally focused, liberal arts institution located in Northern Vermont, is pleased to announce that they have completed the divestment of its endowment from the fossil fuel industry. As of July 1, 2013, the college’s endowment is invested in a fossil fuel free portfolio at Trillium Asset Management in Boston, MA. President Matthew Derr said, “Sterling College is an institution that lives by its core values of environmental stewardship and sustainability, and our investment strategy is now completely in line with those values. By fully divesting its endowment from fossil …
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