Dear John,
For over 30 years, shareholder advocates have been helping corporations embrace equitable and sustainable practices as cornerstones of good business and long-term sustainable growth. Today, the federal administration is working overtime to erase this progress and give corporations free rein to pollute and profit from environmental harm and social injustice. They’re literally trying to erase from the nation’s vocabulary the words that define our goals and
our work – words and concepts that spell out a just and sustainable future for all.
The relentless attacks are just strengthening our resolve. This proxy season, shareholders remain in near-complete solidarity behind corporate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies, with two dozen 98%+ votes to maintain existing DEI programs at major corporations. Increasingly, investors are waking up to their individual influence, using our free tools to invest and vote in alignment with their values. We’re in this together, and we’re in it for the long run.
We can do this. Read on below to see how shareholder advocates are protecting the progress we’ve made, or read the full newsletter online at this link.
For the future, | | | Andrew Behar, CEO
[email protected] | | | | Shareholder Advocates Are Protecting the Progress
The 200 words and phrases the government is eliminating from its websites and documents include advocacy, clean energy, climate science, DEI, diversity, environmental quality, female, gender, inclusion, injustice, LGBTQ, mental health, minorities, oppression, pollution, and
racism. | | | In this newsletter we have highlighted these words that are no longer allowed in red, to demonstrate their power and how they define our work.
Do they think that by
eliminating these “radical” words, they can erase the concepts and the progress we’ve made? That is not going to happen. | | | |
We will not allow these words, or the concepts behind them, to be disappeared. Shareholder advocates are ensuring basic ideas like climate and equity drive the conversations that determine corporate policy. No matter how loudly the administration works to erase these words, climate risk is still business risk, the clean energy transition still brings enormous opportunity, and workforce diversity still correlates to better financial results. Read more >> | | | | Shareholders standing up for DEI: Despite headlines, companies aren’t caving under pressure
Over 98% of shareholders at 24 companies including Disney, Costco, Visa, Apple, Deere, Boeing, Goldman Sachs, Levi’s, American Express, Coca-Cola, Berkshire Hathaway, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Gilead Sciences, McDonalds, Amazon, Southern Co., Merck, Netflix, Walmart,
Alphabet, American Airlines, Caterpillar, Best Buy, and Mastercard recently voted to continue management policies geared toward creating and maintaining a diverse workforce.
As You Sow analyzed 1,641 companies over five years and found a statistically significant correlation linking diverse management teams to financial outperformance on eight key metrics. Read more >> |
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First Solar pledges not to use deep seabed mined minerals | | |
| | In response to As You Sow’s shareholder resolutions – the first ever filed on deep-sea mining – First Solar pledged to exclude minerals mined from
the deep sea until and unless studies show it is safe.
While the current administration tries to open deep-sea mining through executive order, over 30 governments and 60 companies have signed a Global Moratorium on Deep-Sea Mining, including Apple, Google, and Samsung. | | |
Building a circular economy for minerals can alleviate pressure for mineral extraction, rendering deep-sea mining unnecessary while laying
the foundation for more sustainable clean energy systems. Read more >> | | | | Are your retirement savings fueling private prisons?
The current administration is furiously ratcheting up its mass deportation scheme, imprisoning immigrants in private prisons run by companies like CoreCivic and GEO Group. Is your retirement savings or 401(k) plan invested in the despair of brutal immigration crackdowns? | |
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Your gift today helps inform and empower action.
As You Sow’s free, intuitive Prison Free Funds platform shows whether your retirement savings are invested in companies benefiting from today’s ruthless mass deportation and incarceration of immigrants. |
| | | With your gift, you help make sure every investor – including you – can choose a prison-free mutual fund or ETF that avoids profiting from the cruelty. | | | | | |
| As You Sow is the nation’s leading shareholder representative, with a 30+ year track record promoting environmental and social corporate responsibility and advancing values-aligned
investing. Its issue areas include climate change, ocean plastics, toxins in the food system, biodiversity loss, racial injustice, and lack of workplace diversity. See As You Sow’s shareholder resolution tracker. | | | As You Sow
11461 San Pablo Avenue, Suite 400
El Cerrito, CA
94530 | | | | 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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