Climate Targets - The Latest Trend in Corporate Greenwashing

Each year, investors express more interest in company action to combat climate change. In response, companies make highly publicized statements that they are aligned with the Paris Accord or have a net zero commitment to persuade investors, the SEC, and customers that their corporate practices are in line with keeping global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius.

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Insuring Net-Zero Progress

Climate change is referred to by leading economists as the greatest market failure in human history, with potentially disruptive implications on the social well-being, economic development, and financial stability of current and future generations: conservative estimates see unabated climate change leading to global costs equivalent to losing in-between 5 to 20% of global gross domestic product (GDP) each year, now and forever.

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Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative: Transparency and Accountability on Climate

In July 2021, ClearBridge Investments announced it had joined the industry-leading Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative (NZAM), an international group of asset managers committed to supporting the goal of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions globally by 2050. We are proud to be part of a community of over 200 asset management peers, representing over $50 trillion, in this commitment.

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Plastic Pollution - Holding Big Oil Accountable for Plastic Mismanagement

Plastics currently impose a lifecycle social cost at least ten times higher than their market price. While ubiquitous plastic waste dominates public perception, threats to the climate and health are mounting. Despite rising understanding of the broad landscape of risks facing the current fossil-fueled plastic economy, the oil and gas industry is betting on a world that uses more and more virgin plastics.

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Plastic Pollution: Pushing for Absolute Reductions and Refillables

In 2021, As You Sow shifted its focus on plastic pollution from asking companies to make plastic packaging more recyclable to using less plastic, with terrific results. Our proposals to 10 major consumer goods companies led five companies, including Target and Walmart, to agree to cut virgin plastic use by more than 700,000 tons by 2025.

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Say on Climate Global Shareholder Coalition

The Say on Climate global shareholder initiative aims to move companies to develop net zero transition plans, adopt annual 5 percent GHG emissions reduction targets (aligned with Climate Action 100+ benchmarks), provide annual emissions disclosure, and give shareholders an annual vote. The annual advisory vote would be similar to votes on executive compensation, but it would be about implementation of a company’s climate transition plan.

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Scope 3 Climate Impacts Missing from Utility Net Zero Targets

Most utility companies are not including Scope 3 emissions from the corporate value chain in their net zero climate targets. Yet, emissions from customers’ use of natural gas for heat and other applications, purchased power emissions, and methane leakage from the production and distribution of natural gas can amount to as much as half of a utility’s total emissions.

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How to Make ESG Pay Links More Effective

Shareholder resolutions requesting companies disclose plans to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 received increased support in the 2021 proxy season. While this is a positive development, companies must do more to cut emissions in half by 2030 to meet the Paris climate treaty goals. The way to make this work is to have a direct link to executive compensation packages. If the board sets a real financial incentive then executives will make it happen.

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Cost Externalization: A Bad Trade for Diversified Shareholders

The Shareholder Commons has filed or otherwise supported 19 shareholder proposals in 2022 that focus on systematic risks, including mis/disinformation, climate change, and antimicrobial resistance. The common thread running through these proposals is how a company’s externalized costs affect shareholders by reducing the value of other assets in their portfolios.

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Lawsuit Challenges SEC's Restrictive Shareholder Proposal Rules

In September 2020, the SEC under Chairman Jay Clayton issued amendments to Rule 14a-8 that substantially restrict shareholders’ access to the corporate proxy statement. The Clayton SEC’s actions came in the context of years of lobbying by major trade associations like the Business Roundtable, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the National Association of Manufacturers to limit shareholders’ ability to effectively engage with the companies they own on critical environmental, social, and governance issues.

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