Chipotle – Ban on Pesticide Use (2010)
WHEREAS Chipotle has stated that “ ’Food With Integrity’ isn’t a marketing slogan. . . . It’s a philosophy that we can always do better in terms of the food we buy.” Yet, Chipotle has not systematically addressed the use of pesticides in its food sources. (http://www.chipotle.com/html/fwi.aspx) Chipotle customers and shareholders have come to expect the company to provide leadership in product sustainability. The company has begun gathering important information on water treatment and pesticide management from its avocado suppliers, but Chipotle does not report on this information to the public. Reporting on such practices as those used in its …
Bank of America – Mountain Top Removal Mining (2010)
WHEREAS Bank of America (BAC) recognizes that its ability to attract and retain customers and employees could be adversely affected “to the extent our reputation is damaged” and that “failure to address, or to appear to fail to address various issues” could damage the Corporation and its business prospects (2005 Annual Report). BAC also recognizes that: The company’s health is dependent on the health of communities and our society; Climate change and atmospheric pollution represent a risk to the ultimate stability and sustainability of our way of life; and Every part of our business has a potential impact on our …
"SEC Requires More Climate Change Data"
Matt Patsky, Trillium’s CEO, was quoted in an article from the Wall Street Journal Financial Advisor Blog about the recent SEC decision to require companies to disclose potential risks associated with climate change. Click on the link below to view the article. SEC Requires More Climate Change Data Wall Street Journal, Financial Advisor, January 29, 2010 …
The Smart Grid Brings Smart Tips for Energy Use
Knowledge is power? Not according to Google and Microsoft. These firms and many others have recently rolled out energy efficiency tools designed for consumers to use on the emerging smart grid. The hope is that knowledge will bring less power, fewer blackouts and reduced carbon emissions. Investors are beginning to sit up and take notice of smart grid technologies, especially since the Obama Administration’s stimulus plan directed over $4 billion to the young industry. There’s been much talk about how a smart grid can reshape the utility industry, but smart grid technology also will bring about changes for you and …
"RISK: SEC reverses Bush-era policy on climate disclosures"[eenews.net]
“In a policy reversal long sought by shareholder advocates, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ruled yesterday that investors can directly call on public companies to describe the financial risks they face from global warming,” according to E&E News ClimateWire. Trillium has been a leader in pushing the SEC on this issue, and Senior Social Research Analyst Jonas Kron is mentioned in the article. More on Trillium’s involvement can be found here: https://archive.trilliuminvest.com/news-articles-category/big-victory-for-shareholder-rights/ …
Indecent Exposure
Over the past year, the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) has received increasing scrutiny from consumers, scientists, regulators, the media and investors. You may have heard about it when Canada declared it unsafe. Or maybe when the water bottle manufacturer Nalgene (a brand of Thermo Fisher Scientific), announced it was phasing out its use of BPA. Or when Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal announced his office would investigate allegations that companies are using “fear tactics, political manipulation and misleading marketing” reminisent of Big Tobacco to fight regulation of BPA. Perhaps it was when California announced it might follow Connecticut, Minnesota, the …
ConocoPhillips Cops Out on Aggrieved Refinery Neighbors
In early June, I traveled with members of the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) through Louisiana’s heavily industrialized and highly polluted 85-mile stretch between New Orleans and Baton Rouge known as “Cancer Alley,” then further west to the town of Mossville, a cancer alley unto its own. Our guides were leaders from local environmental justice, indigenous community, and coastal restoration groups, including the New Orleans-based Advocates for Environmental Human Rights (AEHR), which fight to restore the state’s damaged coastline and obtain environmental justice for neglected communities. Mossville was once rich in biodiversity and natural resources. The country town was …
Trillium Organizes Tour of 'Cancer Alley'
In early June 2009, Trillium’s Susan Baker led a group of 40 investors on a fact-finding tour of Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley.” The investors, who were gathered in New Orleans for the annual meeting of the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility, represented faith-based institutions and socially responsible investment firms collectively holding billions of dollars under management. They traveled 200 miles by bus to tour the heavily industrialized and highly polluted stretch west of New Orleans. Guided by prominent experts from local environmental justice, indigenous community, and coastal restoration groups, including the New Orleans-based Advocates for Environmental Human Rights, investors were provided with an in-depth …
Climate Change Shareholder Resolution Wins Majority at Idacorp
In a precedent setting victory, a shareholder resolution filed by Trillium Asset Management Corporation (“Trillium”), As You Sow, and Calvert that asked Idaho Power to establish greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets received 52% of the vote. This is the first time a climate change resolution has received a majority vote — the first majority vote recorded for a climate change shareholder proposal. In response to the vote, Idaho Power CEO LaMont Keen said that the company took this message seriously, and would work to meet the resolution’s request for a report by September 30th. The resolution received the endorsement of the Idaho …
Betting on the Farm: Sustainability Reporting Reaches the Ag Sector
Susan Baker Martin with Jonas Kron Twenty years after the launch of Ceres catalyzed sustainability reporting in the industrial sector, several efforts are underway to bring sustainability measures and reporting to agriculture and food production, and not a moment too soon. The agricultural industry’s industrialized processes are wreaking havoc on our planet and our health. Agriculture accounts for one third of all anthropogenically produced greenhouse gases emitted and it does so inefficiently, to boot: fifty years ago, ten calories of energy produced 23 calories of food; today, the same ten calories produce just one calorie of food sold in supermarkets. …
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