My first serious introduction to the concepts and practice of “active ownership” and proxy voting came in the early 2000s as the director of a newly created family foundation, the Singing Field Foundation. At that time, I joined the Environmental Grantmakers Association and began attending its conferences and those of other environmental funder affinity groups. Earlier, as a college student, I was on the periphery of the campaigns around university endowments and investments in South Africa. And, I have always felt that mission-driven organizations with invested assets should take great care that those investments not be in conflict with the mission.
Read moreWill New Wave of Natural Gas Plants Be Stranded Assets?
Natural gas proponents have long framed it as a “bridge fuel” for meeting rising energy demands, while decreasing utilities’ dependence on carbon-intensive coal. Unfortunately, the power sector is now more focused on extending the natural gas bridge than crossing it.
Read moreSmall Cap Companies have a role to play on Climate
In the United States alone, 23 different billion-dollar weather and climate disasters occurred, incurring more than $90 billion in damages in just the first eight months of the year. With these impacts cascading through corporate value chains, the business case for action on climate risk has never been clearer.
Read moreUnraveling offsetting and avoided emissions
Between now and 2030, companies must reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to minimize the risk of exceeding a 1.5°C global temperature increase. Investors want corporate climate transition strategies that deliver tangible emissions reductions and scalable net-zero solutions.
Read moreCompanies Need to Address Existential and Financial Risk of Biodiversity
Biodiversity loss is a global systemic risk. Wildlife populations have declined by an average of 69 percent since 1970, with an estimated one million plant and animal species at risk of extinction by 2050 – approximately 25 percent of all species on Earth.
Read moreInvestors Leverage Shareholder Proposals for Just Transition Impact
As thousands of large companies make the transition to a net-zero emissions economy by reducing greenhouse gases, they must not only decarbonize but also consider the real impacts of changes in their operations on their employees and the communities where they operate.
Read moreClean Energy Ratio Helps Meet Net Zero Goals
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, on behalf of the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, Teachers’ Retirement System, and Board of Education Retirement System (the NYC Retirement Systems), submitted shareholder proposals to six major North American Banks — Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase and Royal Bank of Canada — requesting that they disclose annually their Clean Energy Supply Financing Ratio (the Clean Energy Ratio).
Read moreDo Oil and Gas Industry Divestments Result in Emissions Increases?
As governments worldwide struggle to keep the Paris agreement’s goal of limiting global average temperature rise to 1.5°C within reach, pressure on oil and gas companies is reaching an all-time high. Global bodies such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and International Energy Agency are emphatic about the urgent need for transparent, immediate, and ambitious decarbonization in the oil and gas industry.
Read morePressing the Tobacco Industry to Clean Up Its Plastic Cigarette Waste
While soda bottles and fast-food containers are usually cited as major sources of single-use plastic that escape capture and pollute rivers and oceans, cigarettes often have been overlooked as another major source of plastic pollution. Yet cigarette filters are a form of single-use plastic and, by volume, are likely the most littered form of plastic on the planet.
Read moreDeep Sea Mining Poses Risks to Biodiversity, Climate and Investors
As You Sow recently launched a Biodiversity Program in response to increasing global concern about the systemic risks to nature posed by biodiversity loss and looming ecosystem collapse. These risks include food insecurity, fresh water, clean air, climate change and the collapse of innumerable ecosystem services relied on by companies, communities and the world. The benefits of a functioning environment are at risk and shareholders are beginning to raise the alarm.
Read moreNew Standards Can Help Companies Avoid Carbon Offset Greenwashing
Shareholder scrutiny of corporate offsetting strategies is growing as the voluntary carbon market (VCM) grows, with projections it may be worth $50 billion annually by 2030. Carbon offset advocates believe the VCM incentivizes critical investments in mitigation and adaptation, even as global efforts fail to deliver on emission reduction targets. Yet companies can face reputational and litigation risks for participating in the VCM given credibility questions. Companies can reduce the risks associated with purchasing voluntary credits by aligning their strategies with best practices and procuring third-party verified high-quality credits.
Read moreInvestors Expect Science Based GHG Targets and Reporting
Shareholders in 2023 are tightly focused on resolutions asking companies to establish science-based greenhouse gas reduction targets that cover the full value chain of emissions—and to report on them. The science is clear that companies need to rapidly act to reduce emissions to limit global warming to a 1.5°C increase in warming.
Read moreMethane Emissions Significantly Underestimated - Direct Measurement Needed
Why does methane matter? It is a powerful greenhouse gas with a global warming potential 80 times that of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. While carbon dioxide emissions remain in the atmosphere for hundreds to thousands of years, methane breaks down in a decade – impactful while it lasts (and, so far, it’s responsible for around 30 percent of global temperature rise), but it has a shorter life in the atmosphere.
Read moreInsurance Sector Leaders and Laggards Emerging on Climate Risk
For a second year in a row, As You Sow filed climate-related proposals with three insurers -- Chubb, Traveler’s, and Berkshire Hathaway -- asking the companies to measure, disclose, and set net-zero targets for their underwriting and investing activities. The proposals last year earned majority votes – 72 percent and 56 percent, respectively at Chubb and Travelers, and a vote at Berkshire garnered 46 percent of independent voters supporting the proposal (25 percent overall vote).
Read moreCompanies Claim Transferred Emissions Reduce GHG, But All It Does Is Move Pollution Elsewhere
To address growing climate-related portfolio risk, investors increasingly expect companies to set greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets aligned with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5o goal and to report their reduction progress. Fundamental to target setting and reporting, however, is accuracy. Reported progress must reflect real-world emissions cuts. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case.
Read moreClosing the Loop on Plastic Pollution
Many corporations are attempting to mitigate the plastic pollution crisis by reducing their use of plastics, yet few have committed to tackling the crisis in its entirety by taking accountability for what actually happens to their packaging at its end of life.
Read moreSteel Industry Net Zero Targets Key for Decarbonization
Reducing GHG emissions from steel, one of the most widely used industrial materials, is a critical part of the global challenge of maintaining global temperatures to 1.5˚C. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the iron and steel sector accounts for 7 percent of global CO2 emissions due to its significant use of fossil fuels, heavy industrial process emissions, and power use. By 2050, demand for steel is expected to increase by more than one-third, posing the significant challenge of decoupling emissions from the sector’s growth.
Read moreMajority Votes on Deforestation Put Pressure on Industry Laggards
Shareholder concern about deforestation speaks for itself. Four majority votes on Green Century proposals in the last three years – Bunge, 99 percent; Bloomin’ Brands, 76 percent; Procter & Gamble, 67.6 percent; and Home Depot, 64.6 percent – build upon dozens of no-deforestation agreements that shareholders have won and have helped curb climate change and preserve endangered species around the world.
Read morePetrochemical Companies' Unsustainable Production Policies Drive Plastic Pollution Crisis
Following strong votes last year, As You Sow is expanding engagement on plastics and petrochemicals for 2023. The plastic pollution crisis continues unabated, with 139 million tons of single-use plastic waste created in 2021, six million more tons than in 2019, according to a recent report by Minderoo Foundation. Optimism is rising for a global treaty on plastics within the next two years that could include potential curbs on plastic production after initial treaty negotiations in December 2022 in Uruguay.
Read moreScope 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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