Trillium Hosts the Woods Hole Research Center and the Arctic Initiative at the Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center to discuss global significance of thawing arctic permafrost
On October 17th at District Hall in Boston, Trillium hosted The Woods Hole Research Center and the Arctic Initiative at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, for a night focused on discussion of the global significance of thawing arctic permafrost. The evening featured three speakers, introduced by our own Elizabeth Levy: Dr. Sue Natali and Dr. Brendan Rogers, both associate scientists at Woods Hole Research Center, and Dr. John Holdren, A Professor of Environmental Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. As the talk unfolded, it became …
Trillium Celebrates 20 Years of Fossil Fuel Free Investing
Trillium is among the oldest investment advisory firms exclusively focused on environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing with over 35 years of experience. Environmental responsibility has been, and remains, a key focus at Trillium. Trillium’s Global Equity strategy, one of the Firm’s three Fossil Fuel Free investment strategies, has begun celebrating its 20th anniversary year. Trillium’s CEO and Co-Portfolio Manager of the strategy, Matt Patsky, reflects on this significant milestone. “When this strategy launched in 1999, the human influence on the global climate was just becoming evident. Since that time, we have seen a global transition towards a more sustainable …
Trillium Supports Two NativeEnergy Offset Programs with 2018 Carbon Offsets
As Trillium seeks to influence businesses and policy to act on climate change, economic empowerment, human rights, and many other factors considered within our sustainable investment approach, we aim to look within to ensure that we are also embodying these practices. In an effort to offset carbon emissions from our business activities, we are working in collaboration with NativeEnergy, a provider of carbon offset programs. NativeEnergy offers a program called Help Build™ which works with companies like us to customize carbon offset projects that are tailored to a company’s unique needs, values, and overall strategy. An offset program, in the …
Lamb Weston Set to Provide Pesticide Use Measures After Shareholder Proposal Secures 34% Support
Boston, MA //October 8, 2019: Lamb Weston (NTSE: LW) spun out of Conagra in 2016 to become a leading global distributor of frozen potatoes, sweet potatoes and other vegetable products. The company’s sustainability efforts are comprehensive in their reach across its entire supply chain, but with the exception of setting a water reduction goal, we found that the company had very few meaningful metrics for assessing its sustainable agriculture performance. In fall 2018, we asked management to describe and report on any plans to strengthen sustainable agriculture reporting, specifically related to pesticide use. Our concern comes at a time when …
Trillium Recognized as 2019 B Corporation Best for the World Overall Honoree
237 Honorees Worldwide Honored for Meeting the Highest Standards of Social and Environmental Performance in Business Trillium Asset Management and 236 companies worldwide, were recognized by B Lab on its seventh annual ‘Best for the World Overall’ Honoree list, the highest B Lab designation, for generating positive social and environmental impact through business practices and performance. Every year, B Lab, a non-profit organization helping companies manage corporate social responsibility, recognizes businesses that have earned an overall score in the top 10% of approximately 2,500 Certified B Corporations on the B Impact Assessment. The assessment analyzes a company’s contributions to community …
Pensions & Investments Op-Ed: Stronger partnership needed between shareholders, managers
On September 2nd, Pension & Investments published a commentary authored by Trillium Asset Management’s Senior Vice President Jonas Kron, and US SIF’s CEO Lisa Woll titled, “Stronger partnership needed between shareholders, managers” in response to the Business Roundtable’s stakeholder statement. Read the full commentary below and online here. Commentary: Stronger partnership needed between shareholders, managers Lost in many responses to the Business Roundtable statement Aug. 19 that companies have a “fundamental commitment” to all their stakeholders is a simple fact: Structurally speaking, there are two primary regions of power in a company: shareholders and managers. And both of them need …
Letter to Lamb Weston Shareholders: Vote Yes for Pesticide Use Disclosure
Boston, MA // August 26, 2019 Trillium Asset Management has published a letter to shareholders of Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: LW) urging holders of record to vote in favor of a shareholder proposal on the company’s 2019 proxy ballot. The shareholder proposal (Item #4 on the proxy) asks the company to disclose at regular intervals, at reasonable expense and omitting proprietary or privileged information, available quantitative metrics on pesticide use in the company’s supply chain, and how pesticide use impacts pollinators. Spun off from ConAgra foods in 2016, Lamb Weston is a global supplier of frozen potato, sweet potato, …
PNC Financial Services stops financing private prisons
This spring, we learned that one of the companies in Trillium’s strategies, PNC Financial Services, is one of ten leading financing partners of private prison companies CoreCivic and Geo Group. While we are invested in PNC in part because of its commitments to sustainable business practices and efforts to serve its communities, we were greatly concerned about this news; private prisons are rife with alleged human rights abuses. As noted in recent reports and lawsuits, allegations include inmate deaths, poor medical care, allegations of physical and sexual abuse of detainees and violence.[1] Some of these risks are heightened due to …
Re-Publication of and Update to 2017 Statement on Charlottesville Violence
August 9, 2019 In August 2017, Trillium issued a statement regarding the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia when white supremacists held rallies which turned violent and horrified millions of Americans. Trillium’s statement expressed deep concern with President Donald Trump’s reaction to the violence, conveying moral outrage and also sharing our observations about the economic importance of diversity and inclusion. Two years later we are confronted by attacks in El Paso, Texas, Gilroy, California, and Dayton, Ohio which are being investigated as domestic terrorism and/or inspired by violent ideologies. We continue to stand by the opinions expressed in our 2017 statement (republished …
Trillium Joins Amicus Brief to End LGBT Workplace Discrimination
July 3, 2019 // Boston, MA – Today, Trillium joins a coalition of LGBTQ civil rights organizations, including HRC, Lambda Legal, Out Leadership, Out and Equal, and Freedom for All Americans in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to prohibit sexual orientation and gender identity/expression discrimination under existing federal civil rights laws. In a trio of cases, the U.S. Supreme Court could decide whether LGBTQ people are protected from discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act – which prohibit sex discrimination in contexts ranging from employment to housing, healthcare, and education. Trillium believes prohibiting sexual orientation and gender identity/expression discrimination …
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