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Today, Sea Change Radio talks with Nick Robins of HSBC and Cary Krosinsky of Trucost about their book, Sustainable Investing. We also visit the Responsible Investing Forum, produced in association with the Social Investment Forum, where we speak with Tim Smith of Walden Asset Management about shareowner activism and hear the excerpts from the keynote of John Ruggie, the UN Special Representative on Business and Human Rights.
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Tim Smith, an early innovators of shareowner activism in the 1970s, analyzes this year’s proxy season. Smith was head of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. ICCR practically invented the process of filing shareholder resolutions at companies they invest in raising concern around the environmental, society, and governance — now known as ESG. For years, he attended companies’ general meetings during proxy season when investors vote on shareholder resolutions.
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Berry clarifies common misconceptions about how the ins and outs of shareowner activism. For example, media accounts often report a less-than-majority vote as a “defeat,” when in fact, companies often implement what resolutions request when they receive 20 percent or more support. She also discusses transformations she sees taking place in the corporate social responsibility landscape.
CWR also debuts a new segment with headlines on corporate sustainability developments from the past week, the first in a series of exciting changes to enhance the show.
Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
Edited transcript of this interview on SocialFunds.com
CWR HEADLINES:
February 29, 2008 Reuters article: “Weyerhaeuser, Chevron Form Biofuels Joint Venture”
February 28, 2008 Gristmill blog on “Stabilizing climate requires near-zero emissions”
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CWR co-hosts Bill Baue and Francesca Rheannon speak with Eric Cohen, chairperson for Investors against Genocide and Tim Smith, senior vice president at Walden Asset Management and immediate past chair of the Social Investment Forum, about the campaign promoting targeted divestment by mutual funds from companies supporting the Khartoum regime in the Sudan.
Smith, who helped pioneer the practice of shareholder activism encouraging companies to adopt more sustainable and responsible practices as a founder of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, discusses the novelty and efficacy of engaging mutual funds, which has rarely been practiced until now.
edited transcript of this interview on SocialFunds.com
Fidelity Confirms Vote on Genocide-free Investing
Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
July 5, 2006 edition of CWR: “Sudan Divestment”
May 22, 2007 SocialFunds article: “Fidelity Divests Large Chunk of Sudan-Related Holdings”
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Cecilie Surasky of Jewish Voice for Peace and Michael Passoff of the As You Sow Foundation discuss the shareowner resolution they filed with Caterpillar over the Israeli Defense Forces’ use of their bulldozers to commit human rights abuses in the occupied territories. Bill Somplatsky-Jarman of the Presbyterian Church USA discusses how its Mission Responsibility Through Investment committee is engaging Caterpillar, Citigroup, Motorolla, United Technologies, and ITT to promote peaceful solutions to the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
SocialFunds article: Caterpillar Bulldozes Shareowner Concern Over Aiding Alleged Israeli War Crimes