Shareholders send a message to companies about the need to disclose risks of ‘fracking’
Shareholders at Chevron and ExxonMobil have backed a resolution asking for reporting on the financial and environmental risks resulting from hydraulic fracking. The resolution was filed by shareholder advocacy group As You Sow. In Texas, 28% of ExxonMobil’s shareholders voted in favour of the resolutions, while at Chevron’s meeting, 41% of Chevron voted favourably. Michael Passoff, Senior Strategist with As You Sow, said that the vote results showed investors are concerned about fracking and want more information divulging company strategy tackling financial, health and environmental problems acssociated with this process. Fracking involved injecting a mixture of water and chemicals into the ground creating fractures, through which gas can be captured.
Report shows United States investors lagging in recognising climate change issues
Research published by The Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), the North American Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR) and Australia/New Zealand Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC) and conducted by Mercer has found asset managers are making progress in tackling climate change. The report, Global Investor Survey on Climate Change, is based on survey responses from 44 asset owners and 46 asset managers. However, the report found significant differences in regional progress, with investors from the United States making less advances in recognising opportunities and risk resulting from climate change than their counterparts in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The research attributes this difference to a lack of coherent climate policy in the United States.
Contact: Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change www.igcc.org.au
Investors call on Russell 1000 Companies to integrate sustainability into business models
Thirty one investors, collectively managing $1 trillion in assets have signed a letter sent to all the Russell 1000 companies, asking them to integrate sustainability into business models. The letter, organised by Ceres a coalition of investors, environmental groups and public interest organizations, cites global climate change, resource constraints and growing population pressures as incentives to asses the environmental, social and governance risks in actions and required investor disclosures. Included in the investors signing the letter are the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) and California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), as well as Calvert Asset Management, Walden Asset Management, Pax World Management Corp. and Generation Investment Management.
UNEP report highlights economic benefits of investing in the rainforest
A report produced by the UN Environment Programme, Forests in a Green Economy: A Synthesis, highlights the economic benefits of investing in funding for forests. The report states that investing 0.034% more of global GDP, equivalent to $40 billion a year, could halve deforestation rates by 2030 and generate millions of jobs, also contributing to combating climate change. If the right kind of policies are backed, it is estimated that 28% of carbon form the atmosphere could be removed from the atmosphere. The report was revealed at this year’s World Environment Day celebrations, and the report is especially relevant this year given the theme, Forests: Nature at Your Service.
After last year’s Tesco remuneration report failed to receive backing from half of its shareholders, according to The Guardian, the company has removed an incentive scheme previously enjoyed by Tim Mason, Tesco United State’s boss. The new remuneration report accounts that the company aligned executive arrangements with stakeholder value creation, reporting that the company is making changes to the scheme which focused on the result of the US business as well as that of the group. The report states that “Mr Mason will no longer be eligible for awards under the US annual or long-term incentive programmes. Mr Mason will therefore no longer participate in the US LTIP and the two million shares granted to him in 2007 will lapse.”
Stakeholders vote to advance discrimination rights
Stakeholders at KBR, a defence services contractor and the largest contractor for the United States army, have voted in favour for a resolution to adopt policies protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees from discrimination. At the annual shareholder meeting 61.6% of shareholders voted in favour of the resolution. The declaration was introduced by the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations (UUA) on behalf of the New York City Pension Funds, who hold 1.2 million shares in the company, at a combined value of $44 million. Unlike most of the other United States corporations, KBR had no policy in place to protect employees from harassment based on gender identity or sexual orientation.
Contact: Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations www.uuworld.org
Record number of environmentally concerned resolutions filed
A record number of shareholder resolutions were filed with 81 United States and Canadian companies on climate change, sustainable opportunities and risks and unconventional fossil fuel production in this year’s shareholder proxy season. Included in the 109 resolutions are key shareholder successes for Layne Christensen, where 92.8% of shareholders voted in favour or sustainability reporting resolutions and oil company Tesoro where 54.3% voted regarding oil refinery risk. Companies also made positive improvements and commitments on climate change and energy related resolutions, allowing investors to withdraw a total of 45 resolutions. The president of Ceres Mindy Lubber, which along with the Interfaith Centre on Corporate Responsibility coordinates the shareholder resolutions, stated that the results showed unwavering investor concern over how companies were managing environmental risks.
A new report, Sustainability Leadership Report: Measuring Perception vs. Reality, released by Brandlogic and CRD Analytics assessing company’s investor reputation in environment, social and governance issues found that 66 out of the 100 leading global brands investigated had reputations that exceeded their actual performance in these areas. The report highlights the risks for these companies in not meeting the reputation perceived by their stakeholders. These brands include Visa, Starbucks, and Toyota. However a number of brands including BP, Deutsche Bank, Roche and BHP Billington had credentials that out performed their reputations. The report also investigates opportunities for return on investment and improvement. The perceptual information was collected by a Brandlogic global research study including a mix from 2,400 of supply chain managers, investment professionals and university students.
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