As You Sow
The nation's leading non-profit shareholder advocate, changing corporations for good
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Dear John,

Shareholder resolutions are a strong tool for shifting corporate practices. As both resolution filings and supporting shareholder votes rise, it becomes even more apparent it’s an effective way to move corporations towards earth-friendly, sustainable practices. As You Sow is a leader in empowering shareholders to change corporations for good.


New "Say on Climate" Initiative
As You Sow is bringing the international Say on Climate campaign to the U.S. We believe every company must have a comprehensive climate transition plan and we expect to convince at least 100 of the S&P500 companies to formally adopt Say on Climate by 2022. ([link removed]) Say on Climate asks corporations to:

- Disclose a Paris-compliant, net-zero, climate transition plan
- Report on progress made each year against the plan benchmarks
- Hold a shareholder vote on that progress at their Annual General Meeting

So far As You Sow has written to 75 companies and has met with the first handful. Shareholder resolutions are pending at Union Pacific, Booking, and Monster Beverage. CEO Andrew Behar says in the Wall Street Journal, “While Union Pacific intends to set carbon reduction targets, it has yet to do so, and neither Booking nor Monster have established greenhouse-gas-emission-reduction target or have goals to procure renewable energy.” ([link removed])


$85 Billion Is a Pretty Big "Virtually"

We rejoiced when the Business Round Table redefined the purpose of a corporation to promote “an economy that serves all Americans,” including customers, employees, supply chains, communities, and shareholders, instead of just shareholders. It was an excellent step in the right direction.

In 2019 BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, signed the New Purpose of a Corporation Statement. Its January 2021 annual Letter to CEOs said companies that deliver value to all stakeholders do better in the long run. BlackRock apparently is reluctant to turn the mirror on its own practices — just days after that letter, it sought to block our shareholder resolution that simply asks for “the board’s perspective” on how it will implement the New Purpose Statement. BlackRock says they have fully implemented the New Purpose, yet it voted against almost 90% of last year’s climate resolutions, and still has $85 billion invested in coal. Seems like there’s some room for improvement there.


As You Sow's Olivia Knight Featured on The Today Show

Olivia Knight, As You Sow’s Racial Justice Initiative Coordinator, was interviewed on The Today Show Wednesday, February 10 — check it out! We created this initiative last summer in order to hold corporations accountable on the racial justice statements so many were issuing in response to George Floyd’s murder and the national uprising demanding eradication of systemic racism.

Public statements of support are easy. Ensuring that People of Color are hired, paid, promoted, and retained equitably is less so.

Our research team has scoured websites and social media for all S&P500 companies and scored their statements, policies, and practices across 22 key performance indicators. The resulting searchable scorecard for the first 250 companies is available on our Racial Justice webpage. ([link removed]) The second half will go live on March 4th.

Watch video: [link removed]


Corporate statements matter, but action matters more. As You Sow is here to make sure corporations’ good words are fully implemented. Through original research, direct corporate engagement, shareholder resolutions, and other tactics, we hold corporations accountable.


Stay safe and well.


Yours,
Andrew Behar
CEO


DONATE TODAY
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As You Sow

Address:
2150 Kittredge St
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Berkeley, CA 94704

Mailing address:
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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.

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