BlackRock CEO Larry Fink’s annual letters to investees and clients are hotly anticipated, including by shareholders seeking that the company use its proxy voting practices to be more supportive of climate change proposals.
Read moreBeta Activism: Benefit Corporations and External Cost Disclosure
For far too long, ESG activism has been defined by proposals designed to improve a company’s financial performance or reduce its risk profile. While “doing well by doing good” can create positive outcomes, it does not preserve systems under threat from profits achieved through externalized social and environmental costs.
Read moreFacebook's Encryption Plan Will Hide Online Child Sexual Exploitation
As the world’s largest social media company – and the largest source of reported child sex abuse online – Facebook’s actions have a major impact on global child safety. A resubmitted shareholder resolution seeks a report from Facebook that will assess the risk of increased child sexual exploitation that will occur if it implements a plan to offer end-to-end encryption on its platforms.
Read moreIncreased Oversight of Surveillance Technology Can Reduce Systemic Racism
The U.S. economy is deeply rooted in structural racism and was founded on the exploitation and enslavement of Black Americans and displacement of Indigenous tribes from their land. Now more than ever, investors must recognize our responsibility in this harmful system and leverage investments to advance racial justice in all forms. Following worldwide racial justice uprisings in 2020, many companies took to social media to support the Black Lives Matter movement.
Read moreCorporations Should Invest in Community – Not Policing
The police killing of George Floyd brought pervasive racial inequality to the national forefront. Attention turned to policing tactics and policies that cause harm in communities of color and re-entrench racial inequity – and companies took notice. Many corporations expressed solidarity with the Black community and committed to address racial inequality. Despite this, many continue partnerships with law enforcement and remain complicit in practices that further criminalize communities of color.
Read moreCan Insurance Companies Help Prevent Racist Police Brutality?
Protests admonishing the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Black Americans at the hands of police defined 2020, second only to the 100-year global pandemic. The moral imperative for police reform is clear, but investors are considering the financial imperative, as well. Thousands of police misconduct lawsuits are filed annually – which cost taxpayers over $300 million in 2019. But what about the private insurance companies that back these municipal police departments? How are they responding to the Black Lives Matter movement and calls for reform?
Read moreCorporate Racial Justice Statements Prompt a Reckoning
After the televised murder of George Floyd, systemic racism became front page news and led companies, investors, and consumers to acknowledge their roles in perpetuating racist policies and practices. While companies issued statements of support, investors and consumers began demanding corporate transparency and disclosure on racial and ethnic diversification. Companies have started to realize that heightened awareness of systemic racism, and corporate inaction, materially risks revenue growth and brand value. Conversely, promoting racial justice can increase profitability and competitive advantage.
Read moreRacial Justice Audits: Holding Companies Accountable for Their Role in System Racism
In a set of new engagements, investors want companies in multiple industries to conduct racial justice audits to evaluate how institutionalized racism impacts their policies and business practices. In the wake of the Black Lives Matter marches, the shareholder proposals warn that the outpouring of public commitments to racial equity will be seen as empty promises if they are not backed up with substance.
Read morePublic Funding, Drug Pricing, and Equal Access for COVID-19 Vaccines
Members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) want pharmaceutical companies to disclose more on the impact of public funding for COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutic medicine access and pricing.
Read moreInvestors Demand Proof of Effective Diversity and Inclusion Programs
In conversations earlier this year, a to-remain-nameless company commented that it recognized it was time to finally release its consolidated EEO-1 form. When asked to also release data related to its recruitment, retention and promotion rates of diverse employees, however, it demurely declined. Afterall, it explained, its EEO-1 looked fine and its recruitment efforts were strong. Retention, the company representative commented, was their big problem. Diverse employees leave soon after joining.
Read moreNew York City Launches Campaign for Company Diversity Disclosure
High-profile killings of Black men and women in 2020 highlighted the grave consequences of systemic racism in our society, sparked nationwide protests for racial justice, and prompted many companies, including at least 67 S&P 100 companies, to publicize their commitments to racial equity and diversity. We believe demonstrable commitments to hire, equitably compensate, retain, and promote Black employees, other employees of color, and women can contribute not only to a more just society, but also to improved company performance.
Read moreHuman Rights Protections for Workers in Food Supply Chains Vulnerable to COVID-19
The essential workers who harvest, pack, and process our food are at heightened risk of exposure to, and death from, Covid-19. More than 87,000 meatpacking workers, food processing workers, and farmworkers have tested positive, and a recent study showed that agricultural workers have suffered the highest Covid-19 death rate of any occupation. This disproportionate vulnerability to Covid-19 must also be understood in the context of well-documented human rights violations in U.S. agriculture, including modern-day slavery and sexual abuse.
Read moreU.S. Companies Face Scrutiny Over Partisan Spending
Following the January 6 attack on the U.S. Congress in Washington, attention turned to corporate political support for the 147 members who voted to overturn the November election results and the 43 senators who voted to acquit President Trump in his second impeachment trial. Dozens of companies announced they would “pause” PAC spending and critics of political spending saw an opportunity to tighten the corporate purse strings. But spending immediately following a general election always drops, and it remains far from clear if the spigots will remain off, with a tight Democratic majority in Congress and contentious policymaking ahead.
Read moreBusiness and Political Spending: An Epiphany?
Will January 6th become an epiphany for U.S. public companies and their political spending? The insurrection at the U.S. Capitol turned a spotlight on their contributions to the 147 senators and House members who opposed certification of the 2020 presidential election results. In reaction, more than 40 companies announced they would withhold PAC support for these members or pause all PAC contributions.
Read moreClimate Lobbying: A Critical Way to Address the Climate Crisis
The groundswell of companies committing to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 or sooner, to align with climate science and the goals of the Paris Agreement, has been encouraging. Investors continue to play a significant role in garnering many of these climate commitments, including through engagement initiatives like the Climate Action 100+, where approximately half of the focus companies have committed to set net-zero goals. Still, while these commitments are essential, investors require assurance that companies are taking congruent actions to ensure their public policy activities – and those of their trade associations –also align with global climate goals.
Read moreCapitol Riot, Bribes and Astroturfing: Dark Money Lobbying Requires Transparency
The U.S. Capitol riot on January 6 underscores the need for companies to disclose lobbying funded by dark money contributions, including all third party spending used to affect public policy. In the aftermath of the attack, many companies announced they would stop making political contributions in 2021 to lawmakers who voted to reject the election certification. But the question should be whether these emergency measures to repair reputational damage should become something more lasting.
Read moreMcDonald’s to Get “Forever Chemicals” Out of Food Packaging
PFAS – per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances – are a family of man-made chemicals with known connections to myriad health impacts, including cancer, hormone disruption, and reproductive and developmental harm, and they’re in our food. The compounds do not break down in the environment and can build up in our bodies as we are gradually exposed, earning them the nickname “forever chemicals.”
Read morePlastic Pollution – The Transition from Recycling to Using Less
For 2021, As You Sow’s work on plastic pollution shifts focus from pressing companies to make plastic packaging more recyclable to using less plastic. Scores of companies have pledged to make their packaging recyclable by 2025; it is time to turn up the temperature and press for more impactful actions like commitments to stop using so much plastic.
Read moreInvestors Recognize Link Between Deforestation and Climate Risk
Deforestation is a climate risk. While conversations about the climate crisis often focus on fossil fuels, investors cannot overlook the risks posed by deforestation and native vegetation conversion in corporate supply chains. To address the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, and the risks they pose, corporations and investors must protect tropical and boreal forests, peatlands, grasslands, and other native vegetation.
Read moreBuilding Sector Electrification: Taking Fossil Fuels Out of Our Homes
Power utilities are now taking more ambitious strides on decarbonizing their electric generation business through setting mid-century net-zero GHG emissions targets and implementing major rollouts of solar and wind resources. But the net-zero proclamations for electric generation only cover part of many utilities’ total emissions.
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