Chevron Liability in Ecuador Pollution Case Approaches $27 Billion
Court Judgment Expected This Year by Shelley Alpern Five years ago, I had the privilege of getting a firsthand look at the evidence in one of the most important lawsuits being heard anywhere in the world. The exhibits are a number of oily pits and ponds scattered throughout the state of Sucumbios, Ecuador, right in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. The contamination is allegedly the work of Texaco, the first petroleum company to break ground in Ecuador in the early 1970s. The court case is being heard in Lago Agrio, a sad-looking town whose many ramshackle buildings look far …
ConocoPhillips Shareholders Show Strong Support for Tar Sands Proposal
BOSTON – May 14, 2009. ConocoPhillips shareholders demonstrated even stronger support this year than last for a shareholder proposal calling for the company to fully account for the environmental impact of its tar sands operations. Over thirty percent (30.54%) of shareholders voted in support, compare to last year’s vote of 27.5%. The “yes” vote represented approximately $12.8 billion in share value. Shareholders owning $7.2 billion in value abstained. The proposal, filed by Trillium Asset Management Corporation (“Trillium”), Green Century Capital Management (“Green Century”), First Affirmative Financial Network and Walden Asset Management called for an independent committee of the Board to …
The Importance of Being Google’s Sustainability Report
by Jonas Kron Google is a company that we often point to when asked to name companies that address environmental and social issues constructively. The company’s RE<C (Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal) is a groundbreaking initiative that will help change the power landscape, creating opportunities to advance solar thermal power, wind power technologies, and enhanced geothermal systems. We also are pleased to recognize Google’s efforts to cut or offset all of its greenhouse gas emissions at company data centers. Google is on the vanguard of efforts to maximize the efficiency of computers and minimize the environmental impact of the Internet …
Trillium Lobbies Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders in Support of Sustainability Reporting Proposal
Click here to read the press release. Boston, MA (April 27, 2009) Trillium Asset Management Corporation (“Trillium”) is joining two nonprofit advocacy organizations, the International Labor Rights Forum and the International Rivers Network, in calling on fellow Berkshire Hathaway investors to back a proposal on the agenda for the company’s upcoming May 2, 2009 annual meeting which requests that Berkshire prepare a Sustainability Report on its performance on environmental and social issues. Boston-based Trillium today released a letter filed last week with the Securities and Exchange Commission and sent to Berkshire’s nearly 2,000 institutional shareholders, who own more than …
Idacorp – Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction (2009)
WHEREAS In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that that “warming of the climate system is unequivocal” and that man-made greenhouse gas emissions are now believed to be the cause with greater than 90 percent certainty. In October 2007, a group representing the world’s 150 scientific and engineering academies, including the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, issued a report urging governments to lower greenhouse gas emissions by establishing a firm and rising price for such emissions and by doubling energy research budgets to accelerate deployment of cleaner and more efficient technologies. In October 2006, a report authored by …
ExxonMobil – Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction (2009)
WHEREAS The International Energy Agency warned in its 2008 World Energy Outlook: “For all the uncertainties highlighted in this report, we can be certain that the energy world will look a lot different in 2030 than it does today. The world energy system will be transformed…” Cambridge Energy Research Associates’ (CERA) Chairman Daniel Yergin notes that “climate change and putting a price on carbon will change the dynamics of the energy marketplace.” CERA further reports that clean energy investment could surpass $7 trillion by 2030 and that “clean energy is not a bubble or passing phenomenon. Clean energy is now …
Dominion Resources – Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction (2009)
WHEREAS In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that that “warming of the climate system is unequivocal” and that man-made greenhouse gas emissions are now believed to be the cause with greater than 90 percent certainty. In October 2007, a group representing the world’s 150 scientific and engineering academies, including the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, issued a report urging governments to lower greenhouse gas emissions by establishing a firm and rising price for such emissions and by doubling energy research budgets to accelerate deployment of cleaner and more efficient technologies. In October 2006, a report authored by …
ConocoPhillips – Environmental Impacts of Oil Sands (2009)
WHEREAS ConocoPhillips has extensive interests in oil sands operations in the Canadian boreal forest. ConocoPhillips holds a 9% interest in Syncrude; is the operating partner of the Surmont oil sands; and is a partner in the FCCL Oil Sands Partnership. Total production capacity for these projects is estimated at 950 MBD within the next few years. The boreal provides critical climate regulation for the earth as a whole, storing more than 186 billion tons of carbon — equivalent to 913 years’ worth of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions. More than 30% of North America’s bird population rely on the boreal for …
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