Over 70% of companies we engaged in 2023 took positive action.
[Image alt text: As You Sow® Winter 2023 Newsletter banner saying: Seeds of Change. Shareholder advocacy is powerful. Here's proof.] < [link removed] > Shareholder advocacy is powerful. Here’s proof.
The oil lobby, the far right, and corporations unwilling to accept and adapt to changing times are attacking shareholder advocacy and sustainable investing. They’re seeking to stop, and even reverse, progress on climate change and social justice. Why? Because shareholders are making a difference.
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Call it what you want: ESG investing is just investing
Including Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) issues in investment decisions is a cornerstone of informed investing, and a requirement of fiduciary duty. The vast majority of investors, and an overwhelming majority of the U.S. population, want corporations to reduce risk for all stakeholders while ensuring a livable planet and equitable working conditions.
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Our theory of change
Corporations are responsible for many – even most – of the seemingly intractable social and environmental problems we face today. We believe corporations can and must be part of the solutions. For over 30 years, As You Sow has been convincing corporations to take positive action on a broad range of issues, through direct engagement with senior management.
In 2023, As You Sow conducted 210 engagements and over 70% of those companies took positive action.
Here are just a few examples of the impact created by your support:
- Amazon reduced its plastics use by 12% last year
- Duke Energy, America’s largest utility, set a target to achieve net- zero carbon emissions by 2050
- McDonald’s, Dunkin’, and YUM! eliminated 3+ billion Styrofoam cups a year
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What is a shareholder resolution?
Anyone who directly owns even one share in a company has the right to vote on critical issues, including Board of Directors’ elections, CEO pay packages, and shareholder resolutions. Resolutions can be proposed by shareholders who hold certain levels of stock, and all shareholders can vote to approve them at the company’s Annual General Meeting. These votes are non-binding at any level, but when even as few as 10% of shareholders vote in support of a resolution, it creates real pressure on management to respond.
Mounting attacks on As You Sow
Last March, the Attorneys General of 21 red states wrote major asset managers like BlackRock and Vanguard, seeking to intimidate them into voting against Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) shareholder resolutions. The 21-page letter mentions As You Sow an astounding 38 times.
Now, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee has formally subpoenaed As You Sow, alleging a potential violation of antitrust law “by entering into agreements to ‘decarbonize’ corporations and reduce emissions to net zero.” This allegation – which we believe has no merit – is a dramatic escalation in the far right’s campaign to defeat and reverse corporate progress on climate change and social justice.
Read more >> < [link removed] > These attacks are proof of impact. Will you help? < [link removed] >
We are entering a new generation of corporate responsibility, where shareholders are the voice of reason making long-term, sustainable growth the priority. As shareholders, we have strength in numbers, the legal right, and the moral obligation to raise our voices for good.
Defending against the House Judiciary Committee and red state Attorneys General and Treasurers is absolutely necessary. It’s also very expensive. Will you help build a defense fund? < [link removed] >
This anti-ESG rhetoric is driven by a breathtaking degree of self-interest and short-term profit, creating real danger to sensible, risk-aware investing and frankly, the future of our planet.
Together, we can protect a future we want to see. Thank you for standing with us. [Image alt text: Banner saying: Your support will make all the difference. Donate now. I want to protect progress on climate and social justice. I want to stand up for climate conscious investing. I WANT TO HOLD CORPORATIONS ACCOUNTABLE.] < [link removed] > Give online today: asyousow.org/donate < [link removed] >
As You Sow gets big companies to make big changes, to benefit people, planet, and profit. Because the corporations creating the problems have got to be part of the solution.
As You Sow’s30+ year track record promoting corporate responsibility spans a broad range of the most important environmental and social issues facing corporations, investors, and citizens today, including climate change, ocean plastics, pesticides, racial justice, workplace diversity, and executive compensation.
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As You Sow
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PO Box 751
Berkeley, CA 94701
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DISCLAIMER: As You Sow is not an investment advisor, nor do we provide financial planning, legal or tax advice.The content of our programming, publications and presentations is provided for informational and educational purposes only, and should not be considered as information sufficient upon which to base any decisions on investing, purchases, sales, trades, or any other investment transactions. We do not express an opinion on the future or expected value of any security or other interest and do not explicitly or implicitly recommend or suggest an investment strategy of any kind.
Copyright © 2023, All rights reserved.
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