Meta Lawsuit: In Brief Many thanks to Rick Alexander and The Shareholder Commons for allowing me to play a small role in opening up a new legal battle. The Meta lawsuit contends that directors of Meta Platforms, formerly Facebook, must consider the effects of its commercial activities on the portfolios of Meta shareholders, not just Meta’s short-term […]
Proxy Season 2021 Investor Sentiment Study: Background Proxy Season 2021 Investor Sentiment Study finds the rise and influence of individual investors presents unique opportunities to engage new investors like never before. A new survey from Broadridge Financial Solutions (NYSE: BR) highlights how new and younger retail investors are thinking about investing and this year’s proxy […]
United Parcel Service 2021 annual meeting is May 13, 5AM Pacific Time. To attend, vote, and submit questions during the Annual Meeting visit www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/UPS2021. You will need your 16-digit control number found on your proxy card, voting instruction form, or the Notice of Internet Availability. Mine came by email. I recommend voting in advance. To […]
Earth Day 2021: How shareholder advocacy can make a difference Earth Day occurs on April 22, as it has since its founding in 1970. Some credit Earth Day’s establishment as the beginning of the modern environmental movement. As a child, I remember attending school assemblies commemorating Earth Day. Speakers stressed the era’s key environmental themes […]
Climate Risk Hypocrites exposed by Morningstar’s Jackie Cook and Tom Lauricella. The authors found support for climate-related proposals rose at Fidelity, State Street Global Advisors, and Vanguard. Support fell at American Funds and BlackRock. (Top Fund Companies’ Climate Change Votes: A Very Mixed Picture) (more…)
SEC Trampled Rights. September 23 was a bad day for shareholders, society, and the environment. It was an action typical of the Trump Administration, where political appointees work counter to the missions of regulatory bodies. The only significant “support” for the amendments from shareholders came from a few fake letters, which Chairman Clayton read into […]
Trump celebrates labor day. Many who actually labor cringe at his repulsive words and actions. There are far instances too many to mention. Below are a few that are top of mind. (more…)
JPMorgan 2020 annual meeting is 5/19/2020 at 7AM Pacific virtually. Presumably we will be able to vote by entering our 16-digit control number found on the proxy card. To enhance long-term value: Vote AGAINST Burke, Pay, Auditor, #8. Vote FOR other directors, other shareholder proposals. See list of all virtual-only meetings maintained by ISS. (more…)
Climate Action 100+ calls for trade association accountability on climate change. 200 institutional investors with a combined $6.5 trillion in assets-under-management are calling on 47 of the largest US publicly traded corporations to align their climate lobbying with the goals of the Paris Agreement. Lobbying activities that are inconsistent with meeting climate goals are an investment […]
Drugs are being priced out of reach. The new web platform, Shareholder Democracy, will enable millions of Americans to “vote” on pending 2019 shareholder resolutions at six pharmaceutical companies. Shareholder Democracy Network and its drug-pricing ballot for stakeholders will be launched during a phone-based news conference at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT on Tuesday (February […]
A statement in support of the Paris Agreement and the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) was signed by 288 investors with more than USD $26 trillion in assets. (more…)
The battle over Main Street Investors could determine the future of the American economy for decades to come. According to Cydney Posner of Cooley PubCo, on one side are those who believe investors must focus on maximizing financial return and management knows best. On the other side are those who want to broaden the focus […]
Lobbying disclosure remains a top shareholder concern for the 2018 season, as evidenced by proposals filed at 50 companies by 74 institutional and individual investors. A coalition is asking for lobbying reports that include federal and state lobbying payments, payments to trade associations used for lobbying, and payments to any tax-exempt organization that writes and endorses […]
The 50/50 Climate Project released their Key Climate Vote Survey 2017 (link) of votes by America’s largest investors. Those attending last week’s informative Fall Conference of the Council of Institutional Investors in San Diego found out about it and many other newsworthy items. Key Climate Vote Survey 2017: Groundbreaking Season? First-time approval of climate risk proposals at Exxon (XOM) […]
Walden Asset Management has engaged a number of investment managers and mutual funds on their proxy voting practices, specifically challenging voting records on shareholder resolutions addressing significant social and environmental issues. I see this as a major victory. However, more Vanguard shareholders need to speak out to ensure momentum continues. Contact Vanguard. In 2017, Walden filed […]
Trump’s clean power roll back could lead to millions of deaths around the world if the US abrogates its leadership and all such efforts to address climate change. Investors, businesses and scientists express their dismay. The executive order drew a rebuke from the European Union. “Now, it remains to be seen by which other means the […]
Walden Moves BlackRock: Background A number of investors, led by Walden moves BlackRock on climate Risk. Walden Asset Management and the Center for Community Change, along with the City of Seattle Employees’ Retirement System and First Affirmative Financial Network, filed a shareholder resolution requesting a review of BlackRock’s proxy voting process and record on climate […]
Large institutional investors, concerned about portfolio risks stemming from the effects of global warming, are calling for climate-competent boards and directors as part of their fiduciary responsibility to preserve and enhance the long-term value of their investment assets. Despite the anticipated rollback of climate related governmental policies such as the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power […]
Walden seeks co-filers for resolutions asking Vanguard to review and report on its proxy voting policies and practices related to climate change. It is rare when investors file a resolution with a mutual fund since most funds don’t hold regular annual meetings. Nonetheless the act of filing puts the fund on notice that participants are […]
The 50/50 Climate Project, a not-for-profit resource and action center for institutional investors focused on increasing the climate competency of boards of directors of large publicly traded corporations, is pleased to announce the appointment of Edward Kamonjoh as its inaugural Executive Director. Kamonjoh joins the 50/50 Climate Project from Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) where he served […]
Tipping Points 2016, a new state-of-the-industry report profiled 50 investors investors with $17.3 trillion in assets, finds that investors are deliberately incorporating new investment approaches to help address systems-level risks and opportunities. The study indicates that investors are intentionally attempting to influence systems-level risk factors previously ignored as beyond the impact-ability of institutional investors. The report identifies ten tools […]
T. Rowe Price Group Inc (NASD:TROW, $TROW) is a financial services holding company. It is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on April 26, 2016. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of three funds when I checked. I voted AGAINST the pay plan, compensation committee and directors with no shares. I voted FOR the auditor […]
Franklin Resources, Inc. (BEN) is a publicly owned asset management holding company, which includes Franklin Templeton Investments, and is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is on February 17, 2016. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of two funds when I checked. I voted against three directors and for the proposal for a report on voting incongruities […]
Norges Bank published their second annual report on responsible investment of the Government Pension Fund Global. They clarified expectations towards companies in 2015 and are creating a model I hope many will follow The report provides a comprehensive review of work by Norges Bank on responsible investment in the management of the fund. Key areas […]
Norway’s Resource Extraction The Government Pension Fund Global (Norges, the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund), is one of the world’s largest funds initially funded by resource extraction. Learn about its history, objective and management in the video clip below. The fund is saving for the future generations in Norway; where is the American equivalent? To achieve broad […]
Disclose Climate Lobbying: Resolutions Filed at Oil and Gas Companies Encouraged by the forward‐looking actions addressing climate change at the Paris Climate Conference (COP21) in December, investors have filed shareholder resolutions at 11 oil and gas companies asking them to disclose climate lobbying activities. The resolutions urge the companies to fully disclose their lobbying activities and […]
Recently, with the revelations about Exxon’s past support for climate denial organizations hitting the news, there has been a fresh interest in the ways oil companies have used their lobbying and contributions to oppose climate change solutions. For example most oil companies are members of the Chamber and American Petroleum Association, which recently sued the EPA […]
CivicSpark, a partnership of California’s Local Government Commission and the Governor’s Office of Planning & Research is an AmeriCorps program dedicated to building capacity in local governments to address climate change. They are now recruiting team members for the 2015-16 service year. Follow on Facebook and Twitter @LGC_media. CivicSpark: Climate Leaders If you are interested in joining the next generation of climate […]
Bay Area workers and unions are increasingly joining the climate justice movement, but their pension funds have been quietly investing in the oil and natural gas boom. Deep in the heart of Texas, the oil industry is still going strong. Take Navitas Midstream, a private corporation that specializes in transporting fossil fuels. Navitas is currently […]
Google Inc. (GOOG), a technology company that builds products and provides services to organize the information, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 6/3/2015. ProxyDemocracy.org had the vote of one fund when I checked and voted on 5/28/2015. I voted with management 39% of the time and assigned Google Inc. a proxy score […]
The following PX14A6G filing on a shareholder proposal at Anadarko $APC by As You Sow might be of interest to readers. I’m too busy with my own proposals to make all the links work and to neaten up this post but you can find them in the original filing here. I suspect we will see many […]
Engagement is, or should be, the common theme of our three videos. CalPERS argues it gives them a seat at the table. Professor Damodaran extols the importance of engagement as a possibility. As a shareholder, what avenues are open? In Davos, I think they looked through the wrong lens. Instead of engagement, they focused on an […]
The Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF) recently welcomed the decision by Royal Dutch Shell’s Board of Directors to recommend support for the ‘Aiming for A’ shareholder resolution submitted by a coalition of shareholders including the Forum, CCLA, Rathbone Greenbank Investments and the Church Investors Group. In a letter to the investor coalition advising of […]
This is the third in a multi-part series on the main program of the 25th annual SRI Conference on Sustainable, Responsible, Impact Investing held November 9–11, 2014 at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. See also Video Friday: What is Sustainable, Responsible, Impact Investing?, Violating Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Increases Industry Risks, Surveys: Nonprofit Board Members & SRI 2014 Conference Attendees, 25th Annual Conference on […]
The American economy could face significant and widespread disruptions from climate change unless U.S. businesses and policymakers take immediate action to reduce climate risk, according to a new report, “Risky Business: The Economic Risks of Climate Change in the United States.” Check out their blog too. The U.S. economy faces significant risks from unmitigated climate […]