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Making your voice heard as a shareholder

Another option for investors interested in greening their portfolios is to actively engage with the companies they invest in and advocate for more sustainable corporate governance practices. One way to push the governance agenda is to vote your proxies at shareholder meetings.

This year, 55 climate and energy related shareholder resolutions were filed with companies as part of the Global Warming Shareholder Campaign (the campaign is coordinated by Ceres and the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility). Votes on resolutions are pending with Citi and Bank of America that would require the banks to halt financing of new coal plants and stop mountain top coal mining; with big box retailers such as Lowes to report to investors on its plans to increase energy efficiency; and with electric utilities such as Southern Company that would require the company to set clear GHG reduction targets.

A tracker of all the resolutions and company shareholder meetings is available at the
Investor Network for Climate Change's website.

In addition, Ceres also just published a report this week in which it reviews the proxy voting practices of the 62 largest mutual funds firms. These firms manage a staggering $19 trillion in individuals and institutional investors' assets, giving them an inordinate amount of leverage in the marketplace. Most funds, as the report shows, have a very poor voting record on climate/energy related resolutions (2/3rd of the funds actively oppose such resolutions). If you invest in mutual funds, you can see whether or not your funds are supporting the resolutions described above.

Ian Gray works with Ceres' Communications and Development teams. On How to green your investments posted 1 year, 7 months ago 7 Responses