I am delighted to announce that Kalpona Akter, a former garment worker from Bangladesh who is the executive director of the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity, will have access to the floor of the WalMart ($WMT) annual meeting on Friday, June 7 in Bentonville, Arkansas. She has been an outspoken critic of sweatshop conditions in Bangladesh where Wal-Mart is the second largest producer. Ironically, she will be presenting my proposal to allow shareowners to call a “special meeting.” Continue Reading →
Tag Archives | SRI
Institutional Pathways to Fossil Free Investment
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 Tellus Institute, Responsible Endowments Coalition, Sustainable Endowments Institute, and 350.org. Continue Reading →
PRI Vacancies
There are a number of vacancies at the PRI Initiative.
As always, you can keep up to date on vacancies at the PRI by visiting their website.
• Director of Policy and Research – position summary
• European Network Manager – position summary Continue Reading →
My Notes from Ceres Conference 2013
Let’s just label these notes as “for entertainment purposes only.” Attending the conference was a real pleasure. Unfortunately, I was too busy catching up with people to take more than impressionistic notes at a few of the discussions. Prepare to be frightened about global climate change and our irresponsibly slow pace addressing the catastrophic consequences we are already beginning to see all around us. Save April 30 and May 1 for Ceres Conference 2014 in Boston. Continue Reading →
Beyond Growth: Do Corporations Have Any Responsibility to Ensure Growth Helps the Majority?
Martin Hart-Landsberg
The following guest post is from Martin Hart-Landsberg, PhD who blogs at Reports from the Economic Front. I’m republishing his post (I added the subtitle to his Beyond Growth) because I believe those concerned with corporate governance need to look at corporations in context. Are corporations helping society or adding to its burdens?
Cross-posted at Reports from the Economic Front.
While newspapers give a lot of ink to arguments about whether reducing the budget deficit will boost or reduce growth, they seem to have little interest in the related issue of whether economic growth really benefits the great majority. Continue Reading →
Institutional Investor Engagement Improves Disclosure of Bribery & Corruption Risks
A three-year engagement by PRI signatories has resulted in improved transparency and disclosure of anti-corruption strategies, policies and management systems by several global companies with significant exposure to corruption risk. Continue Reading →
New Independent Investment Firm, Sustainvest Asset Management, LLC Starts in Petaluma
New investment advisory firm, Sustainvest Asset Management LLC focused on sustainable and responsible investing (SRI), has started operations. The firm focuses on investment management for individuals, foundations and non-profit organizations who are searching for an investment advisor who uses the 3 pillars of SRI: Continue Reading →
Fair Harvard Fund Makes Progress: Alternative Endowment Should Be Permanent & Democratic
The Responsible Investment at Harvard Coalition recently announced it had invested contributions from 450 donors in a socially responsible fund withheld from Harvard University. The Fair Harvard Fund, designed as an alternative endowment fund, will be invested in the Portfolio 21 Global Equity Fund.
According to Harvard undergraduate and investment committee member Michael Danto: Continue Reading →
Help in Achieving CSR & Sustainability Awards and Recognition
Governance & Accountability Institute (G&A), a strategies and consulting firm focusing on Sustainability and 3BL Media, the leading distributor of Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability, Health, and Energy news and content, announced G&A Institute’s Awards & Recognition Program yesterday.G&A Institute inaugurated its Awards & Recognitions program to assist client companies in navigating the increasing number of leadership awards and recognitions now available for corporate sustainability and responsibility leaders. Continue Reading →
Review: Governance, Democracy and Sustainable Development
The subtitle of the book edited by James Meadowcroft, Oluf Langhelle and Audun Ruud is Governance, Moving Beyond the Impasse.
Ground-Breaking Proxy Proposals Headed to Shareowner Vote
Climate Change Portfolio Exposure
Boston Common Asset Management has a proposal that will appear on the proxy of PNC Financial Services ($PNC) requesting that it report to shareowners on the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from its lending portfolio and its exposure to climate change risk in its lending, investing, and financing activities. Watch for your proxy. The annual meeting will be held on April 23, 2012. According to the proposal, Continue Reading →
Faith-Based Investing: Believers Engaging the Boardroom
The following guest post comes from Usman Hayat, was published by the CFA Institute on 13 February 2013, and is republished here with permission.
Why, how, and to what effect do faith-based investors engage with companies to seek positive social and environmental change? A recent report, “Believers in the Boardroom: Religious Organizations and Their Shareholder Engagement Practices” by International Interfaith Investment Group (3iG), addresses this question.
The report offers case studies from three faith-based investors — Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Church of England, and Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust — who lobbied financial giants such as Goldman Sachs (GS) and Bank of America (BAC), to varying degrees of success. Continue Reading →
Harvard to Create Sustainable Investment Officer Position
Harvard Management Company, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Harvard University that manages Harvard’s endowment, will establish a new senior level position devoted to overseeing the environmental, social, and corporate governance-related aspects of the university’s investments. Continue Reading →
Webinar on Environmental & Social Proxy Proposals
The Investor Responsibility Research Center Institute will host a webinar on Wednesday, February 20, 2013 at 1 PM ET to review the findings of a new study that finds environmental and social (E+S) shareholder proposals are gaining increased voting support from investors at U.S. public companies. From 2005-2011, average support for these proposals more than doubled, from about 10 to more than 20 percent. Continue Reading →
Report Shows Carbon Divestment Does Not Increase Portfolio Risk
As students around the country are asking their university endowments to do the climate math and divest from fossil fuel companies, the financial community is responding with its own math, the “investment math,” to determine the risk impact of carbon divestment. Aperio Group LLC, a financial advisory firm that manages customized portfolios for a range of values-based investors, released its latest analysis of the risks of divesting from carbon: Do The Investment Math: Building a Carbon Free Portfolio. Continue Reading →
Active Ownership Increases Corporate Returns
Elroy Dimson, Oguzhan Karakas, and Xi Li analyze an extensive proprietary database of corporate social responsibility engagements with US public companies over 1999–2009. Engagements address environmental, social, and governance concerns. They are followed by a one-year abnormal return that averages 1.8%, comprising 4.4% for successful and zero for unsuccessful engagements. Continue Reading →
CalPERS Sustainable Investment Research Initiative & Call for Papers
CalPERS launched the Sustainable Investment Research Initiative (SIRI), in an effort to drive innovative thought leadership that will inform and advance the organization’s understanding of sustainability factors and the impact they have on financial performance. Continue Reading →
Call for Papers: Corporate Governance in Emerging Markets
4th International Conference on Corporate Governance in Emerging Markets, August 23-24, 2013 at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, INDIA. Submission Deadline: February 28, 2013 Continue Reading →
Video Friday: Responsible Endowments Coalition
On February 15th, the Responsible Endowments Coalition honored Anuradha Mittal, the Executive Director of the Oakland Institute. Anuradha spoke about university investments in land grabs—the act of buying up vast tracts of land in poor countries that often result in environmental destruction and violations of human rights. Continue Reading →
PRI Publishes List of New and Delisted Signatories
The United Nations-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) Initiative today published its annual list of signatories joining and leaving the initiative.
In total, 254 new signatories joined the PRI between 12 September 2011 and 9 November 2012, bringing total signatory numbers to more than 1,100, drawn from 50 countries and managing assets of more than US$ 32 Continue Reading →
Cisco: How I Voted – Proxy Score 83%
Cisco ($CSCO) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 11/15/2012. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of five funds when I voted on 11/8/2012. I voted with management 83% of the time. View Proxy Statement. Warning: Be sure to vote each item on the proxy. Any items left blank will be voted in favor of management’s recommendations. (See Don’t Let Companies Change Shareholders’ Blank Votes) Continue Reading →
Heavy PAC CSR’s Correlated with Higher Stock Returns
Companies that tout social responsibility and whose managers contribute to political action committees tend to provide higher returns to shareholders, suggests a new University of California,
Davis, study Strange Bedfellows? – Voluntary CSR Disclosure and Politics. Continue Reading →
Corporate Governance Bites
Continuing challenges to exclusive forum bylaw provisions - Lexology
An increasingly popular trend in recent years has been the adoption by Delaware public companies of an exclusive forum provision in their bylaws. An exclusive forum provision generally provides for the Delaware Court of Chancery to be the exclusive forum for certain disputes (including derivative actions, breach of fiduciary duty claims, claims arising pursuant
to the company’s charter or bylaws and other shareholder litigation) against the company — and prohibiting such suits in other jurisdictions. Expected benefits cited by companies of adopting exclusive forum bylaw provisions include decreased litigation costs, avoiding parallel litigation in multiple jurisdictions and the predictability of Delaware courts. Continue Reading →
An Economy That Works For All
A Conversation With Marjorie Kelly & Chuck Collins. 5:30 to 7:30 pm, Tuesday, October 9, 2012 at the Unitarian Universalist Association, 25 Beacon Street, Boston, MA. To RSVP, email salpern47@gmail.com or join the Facebook event. Continue Reading →
A New Strategy to Fight Citizens United
Guest post from Kent Greenfield. Author, ‘The Myth of Choice’; law professor at Boston College. This article is adapted from a more substantial essay in the Fall 2012 issue of Democracy: A Journal of Ideas and appeared previously on Huffington Post, 9/15/2012.
We progressives have been in quite a tizzy about Citizens United, especially now that 2012 election cycle is swamped with Super PAC money. Citizens United, you’ll remember, is the 2010 Supreme Court case saying that corporations have the same rights to engage in political speech as you and I do. In response, a number of progressives have proposed constitutional amendmentsto do away with corporate “personhood.” Continue Reading →
Video Friday: The Voice of Students & Power of Endowments
On February 15th, the Responsible Endowments Coalition honored Anuradha Mittal, the Executive Director of the Oakland Institute. Anuradha spoke about university investments in land grabs—the act of buying up vast tracts of land in poor countries that often result in environmental destruction and violations of human rights. Continue Reading →
Emerging Markets ESG: Interviews & Database
The Global Unions’ Committee on Workers’ Capital (CWC) is an international labor union network for dialogue and action on the responsible investment of workers’ capital. The CWC Secretariat is hosted at the Shareholder Association for Research and Education (SHARE), a leader in responsible investment services for institutional investors. In her capacity as International Program Director at SHARE, Priya Bala Miller executes strategic planning, coordination and program development for the CWC. Prior to joining SHARE, Priya worked with UN agencies and international NGOs as an advocate for corporate social responsibility and sustainability. Continue Reading →
ESG Investing at University Endowments: Next Steps
A new report, Environmental, Social and Governance Investing by College and University Endowments in the United States, finds environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) efforts by endowments are less prevalent than often believed, particularly given their history as pioneers dating back to 1970s anti-apartheid campaigns. These findings are particularly surprising at a time when ESG factors are increasingly factored into investment the decisions of mainstream investors. Continue Reading →
Video Friday: Johnson & Johnson’s Acuvue Fails to See Issues of Stereotyping Clearly
Sociological Images (Boys Want Success, Girls Want Boys) noted a recent Acuvue contact lens commercial aimed at teens that reinforces both gender and racial stereotypes.
The teens look forward to their futures. For the boys, these involve future career success — notice the African American teen dreams of being a famous athlete, while the White boy’s Continue Reading →
Student Run Investment Portfolios: Beyond Stock Picking
Reflecting on my Experience on the Blyth Fund got me thinking about the 6,000 plus university-based student-run investment funds in the U.S. Many are moving away from pure stock-picking to consider sustainability and social issues. What if they also started looking at corporate governance and began Continue Reading →
Video Friday: 131 Years of Global Warming in 26 Seconds
Webinar: Common ESG Metrics
The Investor Responsibility Research Center Institute will host a webinar to review the findings of a new study, Finding Common Ground on the Metrics that Matter, on Friday, March 16, 2012 at 11:00 AM ET. The report authors will review the findings and respond to questions. Register. Download the report Continue Reading →
Video Friday: No Conflict Between Responsible Investment & Fiduciary Duty
Rob Lake, Director of Strategic Development for the United Nations-backed organization Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), has years of experience in socially responsible investing. His SRI experience in Europe and the UK has Continue Reading →
Discovering Shale Gas: An Investor Guide to Hydraulic Facturing
The Investor Responsibility Research Center (IRRC) Institute and the Sustainable Investment Institute (SI2) will host a webinar on Thursday, March 8, 2012, from 11:00 – 12:00 PM ET to review the findings for their new report. Register. Continue Reading →
2012 Guide to Social and Environmental Shareholder Proxy Proposals
Following another year of record-breaking shareowner votes on social and environmental issues – including five majority votes – socially responsible investors are gearing up to have even greater impact in 2012. This year’s edition of Proxy Preview provides a comprehensive overview of hundreds of upcoming social and environmental shareholder resolutions. It also offers insider details from Continue Reading →