Making Progress with Shareholder Advocacy
[Image alt text: As You Sow® banner with logo, image of mountains and a lake, and text saying: The nation’s leading non-profit shareholder advocate, with a 30-year track record of changing corporations for good]Dear John,
At As You Sow®, we’re never content to think small. Our staff offers innovative solutions to familiar challenges at a speed and scale we’ve never seen before. Our long-term strategic thinking and tenacity is making an immediate impact for people and the planet.
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[Image alt text: Yum! brands logos on a phone with Kentucky Fried Chicken on a screen in the background.]
1 in 3 Investors Support Reusable Packaging
Investors of parent companies to KFC,Pizza Hut,Burger King, and others sent a strong message of support for reusable packaging at two recent annual meetings. As You Sow‘s shareholder resolutions at Yum! Brands andRestaurantBrands Int’l urged the companies to address plastic pollution by dramatically reducing the amount of plastic in their packaging and transitioning to reusables.
The reusables resolution earned support from 37% of investors, representing more than $10.6 billion of share value.
“Companies must end the debate on IF reusables should become part of permanent operations and start talking about HOW reusable operations will be implemented,” said Kelly McBee, Circular Economy Sr. Coordinator at As You Sow.
Reusable packaging is designed to be durable and refillable as part of a circular economy, where resources are kept in use as long as possible to promote resource sustainability and regeneration.
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Shareholders Call for Climate Transition Plans
Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and major defense contractors Lockheed Martin and Raytheon have been asked by As You Sow to provide actionable climate transition plans outlining how they will achieve their 2030 greenhouse gas emission reduction goals heading toward 2050 net zero. As pressure to control global warming increases, many countries are implementing carbon taxes and other climate regulations.
In the U.S., the government is considering heightened requirements for major suppliers, including Lockheed and Raytheon.
“Companies must incorporate all sources of material emissions into transition planning to ensure emissions are adequately managed now and into the future,” said Diana Myers, Climate Initiative Sr. Associate at As You Sow. “Ignoring major components of emissions may leave the company vulnerable to unaccounted climate risks.”
These shareholder votes underscore that investors want to see their companies address climate-related risks and take advantage of climate-related innovations and opportunities.
[Image alt text: Tesla logo on a sign]
Preventing Child Labor and Forced Labor in Supply Chains
A shareholder resolution filed by As You Sow on behalf of Investor Advocates for Social Justice (IASJ) asks Teslato describe if and how it plans to eradicate child labor and forced labor from its supply chain. With increased public and regulatory attention on child labor and forced labor, Tesla’s sourcing policies and practices expose the company to significant material risk.
“Child labor and forced labor are very real, very relevant concerns for companies, consumers, and legislators,” said Courtney Wicks, Executive Director of IASJ. “The New York Timesexposé on the persistence of child labor in the U.S. and a Reuters investigation on child labor in a prominent automaker’s supplier’s plant illustrate the growing momentum and awareness around eradicating child labor.”
Tesla is already facing risk from poor governance; human rights risks have been a long-held concern of shareholders.As we look to the future, we know we must continue to protect the systems we rely on, support shifts in the economy, and fund more shareholder actions — that all begins with you. Thank you for being here with us.
The hard right’s anti-ESG crusade is an ongoing battle, and we will have an update for you soon. In the meantime, it’s crucial we stand together and be louder than ever to combat these attacks and protect our progress.
Stay tuned for updates.
Onward and upward, [Image alt text: Photo of Jenna Belisle] Jenna L. Belisle
Director of Individual Giving
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