Privacy is a Growing Concern for Investors
By Jonas Kron & Michael Connor (Published in the Winter 2014 Issue of Investing For a Better World) The high-stakes drama began to unfold in a Hong Kong hotel room last June. In the starring role was a 29-year-old computer whiz who had committed what TIME magazine called “the most spectacular heist in the history of spycraft.” The story has continued to develop in the months since with a steady drumbeat of news reports that have rocked the highest levels of government in the U.S. and around the world. The computer whiz is Edward Snowden, a former contactor for the …
Shareholders Ask Verizon and AT&T to Report on Government Requests for Customer Information
BOSTON, MA // NOVEMBER 20, 2013: Adding the investor voice to the government surveillance debate, shareholders of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) and AT&T (NYSE: T) filed shareholder proposals calling on the companies to publish semi-annual reports detailing how often they have shared information with U.S. or foreign governments and what type of customer information has been shared. These proposals bring the discussion squarely in front of corporate management and boards of directors. Global concern over U.S. government surveillance programs has provoked international press coverage as well as U.S. Congressional and European legislative hearings, and widespread calls for reform. Trillium …
New Report Outlines Institutional Pathways to Fossil Fuel Divestment
Report shows divestment can lead to higher and less-risky financial returns TELLUS INSTITUTE – BOSTON, MA: — Colleges and universities, philanthropic foundations, and other endowed institutional investors could see better financial returns and lower their portfolio risk by divesting from fossil fuels, according to a new report released this morning by the Tellus Institute, the Responsible Endowments Coalition, Sustainable Endowments Institute, and 350.org. A copy of the report can be found here: http://gofossilfree.org/files/2013/05/Institutional-Pathways-to-Fossil-Free-Investing.pdf “Based on the real-world experiences of numerous endowments and institutional asset managers running fossil-free portfolios, we have identified multiple pathways to divesting from fossil fuel companies,” said …
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 …
SEC Proposals Threaten Shareholders Rights To File Resolutions
2007 By Shelley Alpern The cicada is a locust-like insect that emerges from a long hibernation every umpteen years to create an incessant buzzing on some areas of the East Coast. Equally annoying in death as in life, when spent, cicadas drop from trees en masse, littering once-pleasant lawns and parks with piles of crunchy carcasses.Ten years ago, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) floated proposals for public comment that, if implemented, would have drastically curtailed shareholder rights. Like a cicada, the critics of the shareholder resolution process have resurfaced with different but equally dismaying ideas. In 1997, the story …
SEC Proposals Threaten Shareholder Advocates' Rights to File Resolutions
The cicada is a locust-like insect that emerges from a long hibernation every umpteen years to create an incessant buzzing across the country. Equally annoying in death as in life, when spent, cicadas drop from trees en masse, littering once-pleasant lawns and parks with piles of crunchy carcasses. On this tenth anniversary of the last Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last attempt to cripple shareholder advocacy, the commission has again floated potentially drastic changes to the shareholder resolution process that make our advocacy many times more difficult. In 1997, the story had a happy ending. After a barrage of support …
Extra, Extra: Get Your Newspaper While It's Still Available to Get(A)
The death knell is sounding for an institution that has been a central guidepost in my life: newspaper publishing. When I was growing up in New York City, newspapers opened the world for me; there were then eight dailies being published in the city. I survived a 19-month tour of Army duty by serving as sports editor of the camp newspaper. I was editor of two college newspapers. I was a correspondent for two major newswires. For more than 20 years I wrote a three-times-a-week column that was syndicated to newspapers across the country. To this day, I am a …
Fast Food and Farm Animals(Archive)
How The Industry Harms Animals and How We Can Change That …
Recent Comments