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See also the following sections of this website:

• Links: Socially-responsible investment, shareholder activism & divestment
• Finance & banking companies

Websites:

AReSE (Agence de Rating Social et Environnemental sur les entreprises) {···français···english} 

Arguments against Corporate Social Responsibility [and rebuttals] (Mallen Baker)

Association For Sustainable & Responsible Investment in Asia (ASRIA)

Calvert Group: 

• Social and Environmental Criteria for Calvert Group Funds 

• Corporate Responsibility and Supplier Standards

• Issue Brief - Corporate Human Rights

• Calvert Group Investment Policy on Indigenous Peoples' Rights

• Calvert Group Investment Policy on Burma

Campaign ExxonMobil: a religious shareholder initiative to compel Exxon to take responsibility for its role in the problem of global warming and to make a serious commitment to the development of sustainable solutions

Conferences and Events (ASrIA - The Association for Sustainable & Responsible Investment in Asia [Hong Kong])

Confronting Companies Using Shareholder Power: A Handbook on Socially-Oriented Shareholder Activism (Friends of the Earth U.S.)

Corporate accountability, Wall Street and the Environment: Using Private Investment for Sustainability (Friends of the Earth)

CSR Wire: The Corporate Social Responsibility Newswire

Debate on Investment in Burma (Online Burma/Myanmar Library)

Domini Social Investments:

• Domini Social Investments Challenges Nordstrom on Sweatshops

Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes

• Corporate Sustainability (Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes)
• Sustainability Investment (Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes)

Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility (in association with churches in Britain & Ireland)

EIRIS: Ethical Investment Research Service

Environmental and Social Responsibility Resolutions Filed for 2002 [relating to ExxonMobil] (Campaign ExxonMobil)

Ethical Funds (Canada)

Friends Ivory & Sime: 

• Friends Ivory & Sime to Engage with Companies on Issues of Human Rights

FTSE4Good - official website (FTSE)

The GreenMoney On-Line Guide: Responsibility from the Supermarket to the Stockmarket

Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR)

Investor Responsibility Resource Center (IRRC)

Just Pensions: Socially Responsible Investment and International Development (UK)

KLD (Kinder, Lydenberg & Domini) (social research on corporations for institutional investors)

Nike Shareholders for Justice

Pensions Investment Research Consultants (PIRC) (UK)

Pensions & World Poverty (War on Want)

Portfolio Screening Service (Investor Responsibility Research Center [IRRC]):

• Human Rights

• Labor Relations

• Maquiladoras

SANE BP (Shareholders Against New Oil Exploration)

Shared Interest: a not-for-profit social investment fund designed to enhance low-income South Africans' access to credit previously denied them because of their race, gender, or income

Shareholder Resolutions [links to resolutions on issues of social significance, referenced by issue and by company] (Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility)

SIGN3-Asia: Sustainable Investment - Global Network for Asia

SiRi: Sustainable Investment Research International Group 

SocialFunds.com website

socialinvestment.ca: Canada's On-line Resource for Socially Responsible Investment

Social Choice for Social Change: Campaign for a New TIAA-CREF 

• Summary of TIAA-CREF arguments and our responses 

Social Investment Forum

Some Resource Materials on Socially Responsible Investing and Fiduciary Duties (Peter Kinder/Kinder, Lydenberg, Domini)  NOTE: to locate this resource list, at KLD home page click "Links & Resources", then click "SRI Resources".

S-R-Invest

Studies in the Field of Socially Responsible Investing (SRI)

TCCR: The Taskforce on the Churches and Corporate Responsibility (an ecumenical coalition of the major churches in Canada)

UK Social Investment Forum

Understanding the Shareholder Resolution and Proxy Voting Process (Calvert Group)

Uneterre.net: "Les fonds éthiques"

VIGEO: Corporate social responsibility rating

• {···français} VIGEO

Statements about human rights and business:

Craig Mackenzie, Director of Socially Responsible Investment, Friends Ivory & Sime (UK)

Statements by business people about general corporate social responsibility:

Margie Keeton, Executive Director, Tshikululu Social Investments (South Africa)

Other materials:

2003:

Disclosure vote on Dow meeting agenda [USA] -...If approved, the [shareholder] proposal would require the company to compile a report on dioxin-contaminated sites, submit plans to remediate the contamination and plans to phaseout dioxin-producing processes and products. Dow says it already supplies an abundance of information about dioxin and its plans and successes to reduce the toxin. (Kathie Marchlewski, Midland Daily News, 7 May 2003)

• Dow Chemical Shareholders Challenge Management on Dioxin - Investors Seek Disclosure of Company’s Unreported Environmental Liabilities - A shareholder resolution pending for the Dow Chemical May 8 annual meeting asks the company to report on its liabilities related to dioxin and other persistent toxic pollutants. (Trillium Asset Management, 6 May 2003)

Price of Aids drugs cut by half - GlaxoSmithKline, the biggest manufacturer of Aids drugs in the world, has halved the price of its leading Aids drug in poor countries. The move comes after intense pressure on the pharmaceutical industry from health activists, investors and charities around the world. (BBC News, 28 Apr. 2003)

• Glaxo Will Further Cut Prices of AIDS Drugs to Poor Nations (Reed Abelson, New York Times, 28 Apr. 2003)

Shell feels heat at AGM -...Shell’s managers were also given a tough time by environmental activists who had flown in from around the world to raise issues at the AGM. They criticised the company for not doing enough and providing spin over substance in key areas of environmental and social performance. Activists from the US, South Africa and the Philippines made varied accusations (Tobias Webb, Ethical Corporation Magazine, 25 Apr. 2003)

Religious Shareholders to Challenge PepsiCo To Report Effect of AIDS in Africa Operations - Coalition's Resolution Asks Company for Report on Business Impact of AIDS - Concerned PepsiCo shareholders today announced their sponsorship of a proxy resolution asking the soft drink industry giant to report on how it plans to deal with the business and employee impact of the AIDS pandemic in Africa. (MMA, 24 Apr. 2003)

• Activists question faith in PepsiCo - A coalition of religious shareholders, co-ordinated by the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, has filed a proxy resolution urging PepsiCo to outline its plans to deal with the Aids pandemic in its African soft drink and snacks businesses. The resolution is one of several filed against US companies with businesses in Africa. However, the coalition noted that resolutions filed with Colgate-Palmolive, Chevron-Texaco and Ford Motor have been withdrawn because the companies opened dialogue with the shareholders. PepsiCo, meanwhile, has sought to kill the resolution in a proposal to the Securities and Exchange Commission (Betty Liu, Financial Times, 24 Apr. 2003)

Shell faces international protest at AGM - Oil giant Shell is still putting short-term profit before people and the environment, despite its public commitment to a "green" future, according to a shocking new report launched today to coincide with the company's London AGM.  Failing the challenge: The Other Shell Report...contains first hand testimonies from communities living next door to Shell in the US, the Philippines, South Africa, Nigeria, Argentina and China and catalogues the environmental damage, the health problems and the impacts of accident these communities face.  But the report also shows how inadequate current UK company law is in protecting local people and the environment from UK companies who profit at the expense of people's health and the natural world. (Friends of the Earth, 23 Apr. 2003)

• full report: Failing the challenge: The Other Shell Report 2002 (Friends of the Earth, Refinery Reform Campaign, groundWork South Africa, South Durban Community Environmental Alliance, South African Exchange Program on Environmental Justice, Fundacion Ala Plastica, Global Community Monitor and FreeTibet Campaign, Apr. 2003)

• Shell faces attack on bonuses -...Friends of the Earth is holding an alternative meeting ahead of the AGM [the Shell annual general meeting in London] with representatives from South Africa, the Philippines, Nigeria and US who claim their health is suffering as a result of living next to Shell's refineries. (Steve Hawkes, Evening Standard [UK], 23 Apr. 2003)

Merck board approves spinoff of Medco business -...shareholders [at Merck's annual meeting] rejected two proposals that raised moral issues: A Wisconsin-based religious group...said the board should develop "ethical criteria" on extending patents for prescription drugs. The group argued that generic drugs "expand access to needed treatments," and that making small changes to keep a patented drug under protection brings higher costs to consumers and discourages innovation. The board said the company will defend its patents but "will not pursue baseless legal or other remedies designed merely to delay the entry of generic medicines." (Jeffrey Gold, Associated Press, 22 Apr. 2003)

Earth Day Founder Not the Only One to Link Climate Change and Investing - The voices of institutional investors representing public pension funds join those from the insurance industry to advance a business case for addressing climate change...Mr. Hayes [Earth Day founder Denis Hayes] pointed out that precious few companies are following the examples of BP, DuPont, IBM, and Johnson & Johnson, which are recognizing the business case for improving environmental performance and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 22 Apr. 2003)

Oxfam: Kraft Foods Refutes Accountability and Shows Lack of Leadership in Addressing Global Coffee Crisis Affecting 25 Million Coffee Farmers (Oxfam America, 22 Apr. 2003)

FTSE4Good raises the bar for companies - FTSE Group recently announced a new, more stringent set of human rights criteria for companies in the socially responsible index series FTSE4Good...FTSE are trialling the human rights standards on the global upstream oil gas and mining sector...They are asking companies to commit to ILO core labour standards on a global scale, support publicly the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, have guidelines on the use of armed security guards according to the UN Basic Principles of the Use of Force and Firearms and to reference “respect of the rights of indigenous peoples”. In order to stay in the FTSE4Good Index, companies will also have to provide training for employees on human rights policy, provide evidence of undertaking a human rights impact assessment and integration of their policy into risk assessment processes...In countries of particular concern such as Angola, China, Burma, Zimbabwe and Sudan, resource companies must commit to meeting more stringent guidelines (Tobias Webb, Ethical Corporation Magazine, 21 Apr. 2003)

Investing with an agenda - Calpers' social, corporate activism drawing attention in bear market as some fear its aggressive tactics may cost governments, firms money -...When the AIDS Healthcare Foundation wanted drug maker GlaxoSmithKline PLC to lower the $438 a person it charges in developing countries for a year's worth of AZT, it turned to an unlikely ally: America's largest pension fund...In its letter to Glaxo...Calpers praised the drug maker for ''established and effective humanitarian programs.'' But Calpers pressed Glaxo to ''immediately and continually evaluate the company's humanitarian efforts in light of a changing environment, including its response to the AIDS epidemic.'' Calpers wants Glaxo's findings to be scrutinized by an independent body like Doctors Without Borders. (Chris Gaither, Boston Globe, 20 Apr. 2003)

In the green dock: corporate targets [sub-section of article entitled "Asda 'exploiting loophole' for store space"] - FoE [Friends of the Earth] is also targeting some of Britain's largest listed firms, which it claims are putting profits before people and the environment; it has bought shares in 18 publicly quoted firms and has been questioning boards about the impact their businesses are having on the environment. The campaign, to run through the summer, started this week when FoE accused Rio Tinto of human rights abuses and environmental destruction in Indonesia at its AGM. FoE is also pushing for UK law changes requiring firms to take account of their wider responsibilities and offer affected communities redress or compensation when they fail to do so. The 18 firms targeted...: British American Tobacco (Activities in Burma and use of pesticides in Brazil); Associated British Ports; Rio Tinto (Destructive mining activities in Indonesia); Shell (Environmental damage in the Philippines; South Africa, Nigeria and US); Barclays (Rainforest destruction in Indonesia); BP (Impact of the Baku to Ceyan Russian pipeline); Anglo American (Mining in South America and Africa); BAE Systems; Amec (Subsidiary Spie has a construction contract for BP's Baku-Ceyan pipeline); Premier Oil; Balfour Beatty; P&O; HSBC (Oil industry involvement in Sudan); Tesco; British Airways; Sainsbury; Safeway; BAA. (Julia Finch & Neil Hume, Guardian [UK], 19 Apr. 2003)

Investors barrack Rio Tinto bosses -...Rio Tinto was barracked by small shareholders and special interest groups at an annual meeting that marked a bad-tempered send-off for chairman Sir Robert...The mining group was attacked over pension issues, alleged safety problems in Utah and for not making provisions for a number of legal cases being taken out against it..."The government must change company law to ensure the directors of irresponsible companies like Rio Tinto are made fully liable and accountable for their destructive impact overseas," said Friends of the Earth campaigner Ed Matthew. (Terry Macalister, Guardian [UK], 18 Apr. 2003)

• Rio Tinto exposed for mining impacts in Indonesia - Rio Tinto, the world's biggest mining company, will come under attack at its annual general meeting today for human rights abuses and environmental destruction linked to its operations in Indonesia. The allegations are outlined in a new report from Friends of the Earth Indonesia (WALHI), "Undermining Indonesia", launched today, which investigates the impacts of four of Rio Tinto's most controversial mining operations. (Friends of the Earth, 17 Apr. 2003)

Human rights, salary at issue for Coca-Cola - Coca-Cola should...use its influence in Colombia to encourage greater protections of human rights. These were just a few of the more controversial proposals members of the Atlanta company's board of directors fielded from some of the 400 shareholders gathered here Wednesday for Coke's annual meeting...Perhaps the most controversial proposal concerned allegations that the company's plant managers used paramilitary groups to intimidate and kill eight union organizers at a bottling plant in Barrancabermeja, Colombia...Coke denies that it is in any way responsible...Richard Shaw of the AFL-CIO implored the company to take a more active role in helping protect the union organizers. Deval Partrick, Coke's general counsel, said the company has gone as far as providing security for Colombian individuals being threatened. (David Kaplan, Houston Chronicle, 17 Apr. 2003)

Coca-Cola karma: irony in advertising? -...Today, the Coca-Cola Company is holding its annual shareholders’ meeting. One participant will be William Mendoza...the President of the National Food Industry Workers’ Union in his hometown of Barrancabermeja...Paramilitary groups have killed seven employees of Coca-Cola bottlers – all union members – in Colombia since 1990. Mendoza claims that he is among 65 union members who have received death threats from paramilitary groups. (Rick Stern, Montana Kaimin [USA], 16 Apr. 2003)

New call for cheap Aids drugs - The largest pension fund in the US has called on British drug giant GSK to make access to Aids drugs easier by cutting prices and easing patent controls. (BBC News, 15 Apr. 2003)

• CalPERS asks Glaxo to lower AIDS drug prices (Sacramento Business Journal, 14 Apr. 2003)

• GSK Commends CalPERS for Its Support of the Company's Continuing HIV/AIDS Efforts - The following is a statement from GlaxoSmithKline commending the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) for their interest in and support of the company's efforts to combat HIV/AIDS in developing countries. The statement comes in response to a press release issued by The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF). In that press release, AHF describes a letter written by CalPERS to GSK ending months of pressure by AHF to try and force CalPERS to sell its GSK shareholdings. In a unanimous vote, the CalPERS Board rejected AHF's attempts to force a sale of GSK stock, and instead agreed to write a letter expressing its concerns that the company continue and expand its efforts to fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic. (GlaxoSmithKline, 15 Apr. 2003)

• CalPERS to Glaxo: Lower AIDS Drug Prices, Increase Humanitarian Efforts - Nation's Largest Pension System Warns British Drug Giant of Damage to Reputation, Encourages GSK to Study Voluntary Licensing of Generic Life-Saving AIDS Drugs - Mammoth Pension Fund Holds Nearly USD$760 Million in GSK Stock (AIDS Healthcare Foundation, 15 Apr. 2003)

Women's Group to Target Augusta Members [USA] - The leader of efforts to force the Augusta National Golf Club to admit women said Tuesday she will take her protest next to companies whose top executives belong to the club. Martha Burk, head of the National Council of Women's Organizations, said her group plans to request meetings with the top officers of several corporations - among them IBM, General Electric, AT&T, Ford and Microsoft - who hold memberships at the golf club, home to the prestigious Masters tournament. She said her group also is considering appealing to pension fund administrators and other investors to sell stock in companies whose executives belong to the golf club. (Jonathan D. Salant, Associated Press, 15 Apr. 2003)

Calpers adds watchlist to emerging-markets policy - Calpers, the No. 1 U.S. pension fund, said on Monday it would in future wait a year for possible reforms before cutting off investment in emerging-market countries that no longer meet its criteria, which include political as well as economic issues.  The Philippines was the only country given the year under the new watchlist policy...But Malaysia and Thailand, dropped from the list in February at the same time as the Philippines, will not be given the year to reform...In February, Calpers also ruled out investing in such large countries as China, India and Indonesia. Calpers, which can set the tone for other institutional investors, based its decisions on criteria that include civil liberties, accounting standards, labor law and market transparency. (Reuters, 14 Apr. 2003)

Corporations as Good Global Citizens - Governments have to encourage better corporate behavior at home and abroad -...Some of the world's most prominent firms have been sued in American, Australian, Canadian, Belgian, and British courts for allegedly aiding and abetting human rights violations by governments of developing countries. Other stakeholders have used proxy fights, consumer boycotts, or public pressure to ensure that multinationals adopt corporate social responsibility strategies...Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Canada are doing the most to promote global corporate social responsibility. [refers to UK and Netherlands governments promoting OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises; refers to Canada's standards for ethical procurement by the government] (Susan Ariel Aaronson & James Reeves, Global CSR Policies Project at Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, Kenan Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina, in YaleGlobal, 8 Apr. 2003)

When Lightning Strikes: Portfolio 21 Applies The Natural Step's Sustainability Theories - Portfolio 21 applies environmental screens based on the principles of the Natural Step, which promotes sustainability. [refers to Electrolux, Whole Foods Market, Wild Oats, Horizon Organic] (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 3 Apr. 2003)

Treasurers Express Concern About Risks to Investments From Climate Change [USA] - Four state and city treasurers and comptrollers, representing approximately $130 billion in investments, yesterday expressed concern about the risks of climate change to long-term investments, and announced plans to hold a summit with other institutional investors to examine the issue. (GreenBiz.com, 3 Apr. 2003)

PepsiCo Shareowners Will Address the Business Risks of Water Scarcity - The SEC is requiring PepsiCo's to allow its shareowners to vote on a resolution regarding the business risks of water scarcity...Concern about water supplies is seeping to investors who own stock in companies that use large amounts of water. A group of PepsiCo shareowners have filed a resolution asking the company to report on the business risk of water use throughout its supply chain. The resolution also asks the company to disclose its "current policies and procedures for mitigating the impact of operations on local communities in areas of water scarcity." (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 2 Apr. 2003)

Drug giants 'next tobacco' warning - The pharmaceutical industry risks becoming the "new tobacco" unless it cleans up its act in developing countries, an influential group of investors has warned. The global drugs industry must do more to help poor countries facing health crises, according to investors from the US and continental Europe. (BBC News, 24 Mar. 2003)

Must do better to stay on FTSE4Good - The first companies were ejected from the FTSE4Good 'ethical' stock market indices last week after environmental criteria were tightened, and many others were warned that they will have to do better if they want to stay in after the next review in six months' time...Three UK companies have been kicked out by the FTSE4Good committee: the printer St Ives, financial software house RoyalBlue, and Goldshield, which sells vitamins and other food supplements such as Evening Primrose Oil and Flexeze. Elan, the troubled Irish pharmaceutical firm was also evicted from the indices. (Roger Cowe, Observer [UK], 23 Mar. 2003)

Oekom Applauds Insurers Employing SRI but Chides Rest of Sector's Non-Transparency - Lack of transparency prevented the German corporate research firm from conducting corporate responsibility ratings on the majority of global insurance companies. - Few insurance companies are making the effort to disclose their social and environmental performance...Norway-based Storebrand, which scored the highest overall rating of "B" on a scale from "A+" to "D-", received kudos for employing negative as well as best-in-class screening in substantial portions of its investment portfolio...The report highlighted the shareowner advocacy practices of UK-based Aviva, which placed second in the overall rating with a "B", and Australia-based AMP, which placed twelfth with a "C".  "As an example, Morley Fund Management [Aviva] is committed to vote against FTSE 100 companies, which do not publish environmental reports" (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 18 Mar. 2003)

Unocal adopts company-wide principles - Unocal Corporation has announced the adoption of new corporate principles covering fundamental rights, such as freedom from discrimination in employment, the elimination of child labour and freedom of association and collective bargaining. The move was welcomed by the Amalgamated Bank, which was one of the company's investors that had urged the company to take the step in a shareholder resolution that won 32.8 percent support at the company's AGM - at the time the largest ever such vote of support recorded for a human rights motion...Unocal has been the focus of criticism due to its business activities in Myanmar - particularly alleged complicity with the actions of security services who committed various human rights violations. (Business Respect newsletter No. 52, 15 Mar. 2003)

W Papua mine paid $18.5m to military [West Papua/Indonesia] - Freeport Indonesia has been forced to reveal it paid more than $US11million ($18.5 million) to the Indonesian army over the past two years for security at its operations in strife-torn West Papua. It is the first time the mining giant has admitted the full extent of the military's involvement in the controversial gold and copper mine..."Transnational corporations operating in countries with repressive governments, ethnic conflict, weak rule of law, endemic corruption or poor labour and environmental standards face serious risks to their reputation and share value if they are seen to be responsible for, or complicit in, human rights violations," the shareholders' resolution reads [US shareholders in the parent company Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc.]...A spokesman for Rio Tinto, which owns 16 per cent of the parent company Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc, said that management of the Indonesian mine was the responsibility of Freeport, and it was inappropriate for a minority shareholder to comment. (Sian Powell, The Australian, 15 Mar. 2003)

• TNI chief admits to perks from Freeport [Indonesia/West Papua] - Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Soetarto said on Friday some 600 troops stationed at the Freeport mine in Papua to protect the company's assets receive daily allowances and lunches from the United States-based company....Endriartono was commenting on a news report that TNI received US$5.6 million from the American-based company to protect its employees...The giant mining company has been operating in the country since the late 1960s, but its presence in Papua has become increasingly controversial of late, with critics linking it to human rights abuses and graft. (Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta Post, 15 Mar. 2003)

Pension funds and SRI [UK] - Recent research suggests that even when current financial troubles have receded the onward march of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) may be much slower than many have predicted, writes Roger Cowe - Trustees seem to be suffering from a general state of depression about the ability of pension funds to influence companies’ social and environmental performance – and the likely financial benefits even if companies do improve. (Roger Cowe, in Ethical Corporation Magazine, 13 Mar. 2003)

{···français} Notation sociale - Vigeo en ordre de marche, le capital constitué - Vigeo, l'agence de notation sociale et environnementale, annonce mercredi qu'elle est désormais opérationnelle et qu'elle a bouclé son tour de table. (Reuters, 12 mars 2003)

• {···français} Entretien avec Nicole Notat, PDG de Vigeo (Le Monde, 12 mars 2003)

Listing rules to go green [UK] - Company listings requirements should be overhauled to include environmental, social and ethical information, according to new research published today by Claros Consulting and Friends of the Earth...Information disclosure is at the heart of listing and the report concludes that this must include providing information to investors on the social, environmental and ethical risks to a company. (Friends of the Earth, 10 Mar. 2003)

• full report: Open Disclosure: Sustainability and the listings regime (Claros Consulting and Friends of the Earth, Feb. 2003)

Global Meeting of Coca-Cola Workers: Delegates Vow To Continue Fight for Worker Rights -...Participants heard reports of union rights violations in Colombia where union representatives had been arbitrarily fired following the signing of a collective agreement at the Coca-Cola bottler in Carepa, Urabá. Participants also heard about repeated union busting in Pakistan and, in response to an attack on fundamental union rights by the local bottler at the Moscow Coca-Cola plant, participants adopted a solidarity resolution in support of the IUF’s affiliate in Russia and its members at Coca-Cola...The second day’s discussion included presentations by David Schilling of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility and John Wilson of the Christian Brothers Investment Services who described their efforts to use shareholder pressure to push Coca Cola to respect human rights throughout the company’s system. (IUF - International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations, 6 Mar. 2003)

ExxonMobil Receives 23 Shareowner Resolutions on Issues Ranging from Climate Change to Corporate Governance -...The social resolutions filed with ExxonMobil ask the company to implement a sexual orientation nondiscrimination policy, review and implement human rights standards, affirm political nonpartisanship, and report on the impact of AIDS on operations. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 26 Feb. 2003)

SRI Issues Will Impact Companies' Financial Performance, UK Pension Fund Trustees Say - A recent survey finds that pension fund trustees in the United Kingdom view socially responsible investing (SRI) issues as linked to companies' future financial performance. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 25 Feb. 2003)

• Pension Fund Activism on Social & Environmental Issues to Increase [UK]: New report reveals increasing importance of social and environmental performance to pension fund trustees -...In the survey of over 100 member nominated trustees' of pension funds, less than one in ten believes that companies are providing enough social and environmental information for investment decisions to be analysed. The survey found that trustees believe that social and environmental issues will have a substantial impact on the financial performance of companies over the next five to ten years. (Just Pensions, 24 Jan. 2003)

• full report: Will UK Pension Funds Become More Responsible? A Survey of Member Nominated Trustees (Chris Gribben & Leon Olsen, Ashridge Centre for Business & Society, Just Pensions, Trades Union Congress, 22 Jan. 2003)

Letter To The Editor (and Responses) featuring Paul Hawken and Amy Domini [debate on socially-responsible investment; refers to labour, environmental, health & other social issues; refers to Chiquita, McDonald's, Wild Oats, Whole Foods, Horizon Organic, Coca-Cola]  (GreenMoneyJournal.com, Feb./Mar. 2003)

As "Green Banking" Flourishes at the Grassroots Level, 10 Leading Proponents Across the USA - "Green banking" -- in which community investing dollars from banks, credit unions, venture capital firms, foundations and other organizations are directed to support environmentally beneficial businesses and nonprofits that might otherwise be overlooked by "traditional" financial institutions -- is making major strides today across the United States. Today, the Community Investing Campaign...singled out 10 organizations that "best exemplify the building of economic opportunity and hope for individuals through community investing": Chittenden Bank; Coastal Enterprises, Inc.; Permaculture Credit Union; Rudolf Steiner Foundation; Self-Help Credit Union; ShoreBank Pacific; Sustainable Jobs Fund; Underdog Ventures, LLC; Vermont Community Loan Fund; and Wainwright Bank & Trust Company. (Social Investment Forum, in GreenMoneyJournal.com, Feb./Mar. 2003)

Beyond petroleum, or beyond the pale? BP left out in the cold -...one of the UK's leading ethical investment funds, Henderson Global Investors, announced it was selling millions of pounds of BP shares because it could no longer assure its investors of the company's commitment to worker safety and the environment in Alaska. (Andrew Gumbel and Marie Woolf, Independent [UK], 23 Jan. 2003)

ICCR Proxy Resolutions Book Gauges Shareowner Action Climate -...the auto sector resolutions...ask General Motors and the Ford Motor Company to evaluate what new public policies would enable and assist the companies in achieving GHG emissions reductions...The utilities sector resolutions ask American Electric Power, Cinergy Corporation, Southern Company, and TXU Corporation to report on the potential economic benefits of committing to a substantial reduction in GHG emissions...Sr. Wolf also highlighted the resubmission of the renewable energy resolution at ExxonMobil...Finally, Sr. Wolf highlighted the increasing number of Canadian resolutions that are making their way into the Proxy Resolutions Book. Placer Dome (PDG) has received three separate resolutions, and the five top banks in the country have been asked to disclose their social and environmental risks. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 22 Jan. 2003)

Investors want US utilities to disclose emissions - Shareholders at five of the largest U.S power utilities [American Electric Power, Southern Co., Cinergy Corp., Xcel Energy, TXU Corp.] filed global warming resolutions last week that would force the companies to disclose publicly the economic risks of air pollutants they emit. (Reuters, 20 Jan. 2003)

Sierra Club Launches SRI Mutual Funds - The Sierra Club is harnessing its name recognition and expertise on corporate environmental performance with its launching of an SRI equity mutual fund and an SRI balanced mutual fund. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 15 Jan. 2003)

HRC co-files resolution urging ExxonMobil to prohibit sexual orientation discrimination - The Human Rights Campaign has joined the New York City Employees' Retirement System in filing a shareholder resolution calling on ExxonMobil to add sexual orientation to its written non-discrimination policy. (Wayne Besen, Human Right Campaign, 14 Jan. 2003)

Australia To Require Investment Firms to Disclose How They Take SRI into Account - A 2002 Australian law that requires all investment firms to disclose how they take socially responsible investment issues into consideration will take effect in March 2003. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 3 Jan. 2003) 

Deconstructing Engagement: Corporate Self-Regulation in Conflict Zones - Implications for Human Rights and Canadian Public Policy [includes sections on: case study of Talisman Energy in Sudan, "Talisman Energy's Corporate Social Responsibility Reports and Verification by PricewaterhouseCoopers", the liability of corporations under international law, "Domestic Disclosure and Corporate Laws", "Litigation", "Consumer and Investor Campaigns", codes of conduct, social reporting, verification/monitoring, "Emerging State Duty to Regulate the Extraterritorial Activities of Corporations"] (Georgette Gagnon, Audrey Macklin, Penelope Simons, A Strategic Joint Initiative of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Law Commission of Canada, Jan. 2003)

2002:

press release: ASrIA releases first comprehensive report on labour standards in China -...The report presents the key issues and raises the fundamental dilemmas that fund managers who consider social and environmental factors as well as financial and operational factors in investment decisions may need to address when determining whether to invest in a company. (ASrIA - Association for Sustainable & Responsible Investment in Asia, 17 Dec. 2002)

• report: Labour Standards in China, The Business and Investment Challenge [refers to loopholes in local labour laws, difficulties in enforcing third party verification, influence of the All-China Confederation of Free Trade Unions] [summary can be downloaded from webpage] (Dr. Stephen Frost, ASrIA - Association for Sustainable & Responsible Investment in Asia, Dec. 2002)

Shareholders pressure US carmakers to come clean - A group of shareholders at car makers General Motors and Ford Motor Co are exerting new pressure on management to try and force the firms to cut vehicle gas emissions in the next 10 years. (Reuters, 16 Dec. 2002)

Cut greenhouse gas emissions, investors tell Petro-Canada -...Ethical Funds Inc. and Real Assets Investment Management have jointly filed the resolution to be distributed to all Petro-Canada shareholders in the company's management proxy circular and voted on at the 2003 annual general meeting. (Ethical Funds Inc., 12 Dec. 2002)

Global Funds Tell Union Carbide To Settle Bhopal Gas Leak Claims - A group of international investor funds which includes Trillium Asset Management, Domini Social Investments and the Calvert Group (together managing a combined asset value of $13 billion) have advised Union Carbide to settle claims of economic, health and environmental liabilities of over $500 million (Rs 2,500 crore) stemming out of the Bhopal gas leak...A letter has been sent jointly by a group of funds to the Dow Chemical Company, which took over Union Carbide in 2001 along with all its assets and liabilities. (Ajay Jain, Financial Express [India], 5 Dec. 2002)

Ethical Funds Inc. [Canada] supports Oxfam's Coffee Rescue Plan: Investors ally with Oxfam to help coffee farmers - Ethical Funds Inc. today announced its support for the Coffee Rescue Plan proposed by the international development organization Oxfam, and other humanitarian and environmental organizations. (Ethical Funds, Inc., 4 Dec. 2002)

Water: Is the cup half full or half empty? Depends on who owns the cup. -...Water is not a commodity. It is a basic human right. (Blaine Townsend, Trillium Asset Management, 25 Nov. 2002)

PR Flacks Beware: GRI Guidelines Call for the Full Story in Corporate Reports - A growing number of companies are supplementing their annual financial reports with yearly reports on their corporate citizenship. To try to promote the accuracy, comparability, and integrity of these reports, a new non-profit organization, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), has brought together a broad range of groups from around the world to agree to a common reporting framework. (Steve Lippman, Trillium Asset Management, 1 Nov. 2002)

Defining Global Business Principles: Towards a new role for investors in promoting international corporate responsibility [refers to human rights, labour issues, environmental issues; includes sections entitled "Globalisation and coporate responsibility", "Global ethical principles", "The Global Business Principles Project"]  (Dr. Craig Mackenzie, Head of Investor Responsibility, Insight Investment, Nov. 2002)

WRI Promotes Sustainable Business in China - The World Resources Institute has launched a project that will support green business initiatives in China. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 22 Oct. 2002)

Socially-conscious investors seek corp disclosure - Socially responsible investors...are campaigning to persuade U.S. corporations to disclose more than just how much money they are making (Judith Crosson, Reuters, 22 Oct. 2002)

California supreme court decision potentially devastating for corporate responsibility reporting and SRI funds worldwide - The decision by the California courts against Nike [in the case of Kasky v Nike, relating to Nike's public defense of allegations of “sweatshop” labour in its Asian factories] has created a great deal of uncertainty among US corporations, reports Peter Clarke (Peter Clarke, Director of SRIMedia, in Ethical Corporation Magazine, 17 Oct. 2002)

"Socially responsible" funds emerging in Asia -...Compared to developed markets, there was an even more compelling case for Asia to develop socially responsible investments, as governments in the region grapple with issues like pollution, human rights and deforestation, he [Euan Marshall, director of Kingsway Fund Management Ltd in Hong Kong] said. (Jill Wong, Reuters, 16 Oct. 2002)

Is pension fund getting too activist?... Calpers [California Public Employees' Retirement System], at $136 billion the largest U.S. public pension fund, is throwing its weight behind new goals: creating jobs, rejuvenating inner cities, providing affordable housing and putting pressure on developing countries to give citizens basic freedoms. (Mary Williams Walsh, New York Times, in International Herald Tribune, 15 Oct. 2002)

HK's [Hong Kong's] Kingsway eyes US$50 mln in new ethical fund - Kingsway Fund Management Ltd said yesterday it aims to raise US$50 million for a new Asian fund focused on socially responsible and ethical companies. (Reuters, 8 Oct. 2002)

Lydenberg article charts future of socially responsible investing - Domini Principal and KLD Founder Says SRI’s “Time Has Come” -...Steven D. Lydenberg...has published an article entitled, “Envisioning Socially Responsible Investing: A Model for 2006,” in the October issue of The Journal of Corporate Citizenship. The groundbreaking article identifies the trends that are shaping socially responsible investing (SRI) and argues that new organizations and initiatives must be created to satisfy a growing demand for SRI research, products and education. The article’s proposals include the creation of new, niche-market SRI research firms and the integration of SRI and corporate social responsibility (CSR) into business school curricula and financial analyst training. (Domini Social Investments, 1 Oct. 2002)

• Summary of “Envisioning Socially Responsible Investing: A Model for 2006”

• full article: “Envisioning Socially Responsible Investing: A Model for 2006” (Steven D. Lydenberg, Domini Social Investments, in Journal of Corporate Citizenship, autumn 2002)

Pension funds push Big Business to go green -...As institutions like the pension funds that control vast swaths of assets across the globe become more concerned about corporate labour policies, the environment and human rights issues companies are being forced to take notice. (Simon Johnson, Reuters, 20 Sep. 2002)

Ethical Investment in Fossil Fuels? Mining watchdog slams funds putting social dollar into coal, oil (Mineral Policy Institute, 16 Sep. 2002)

• full report: Socially Responsible Climate Change? Investigating Fossil Fuel Investment of the Australian Socially Responsible Investment Industry (Mineral Policy Institute, Sep. 2002)

Comment: The Ethical Edge -  The next significant social responsibility screen may be one that identifies the corporations that aid terrorism (Jon Entine, in Ethical Corporation Magazine, 12 Sep. 2002)

Current List of Annual Company Meeting Statements Made by Socially Responsible Shareholders [includes Alltel - Sexual Orientation Discrimination; Eastman Chemical Company - Health Risks of Cigarette Filters; Gannett - American Indians / Diversity Reporting; Hasbro - Sweatshops] (Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, 10 Sep. 2002)

Environmental Fiduciary: The Case for Incorporating Environmental Factors into Investment Management Policies - In this report, we show that fiduciaries who manage funds for institutional investors such as pension funds, foundations and charitable trusts should incorporate environmental factors into their portfolio management policies. [includes reference to DuPont, ST Microelectronics, IBM, Baxter Intl, Smithfield Foods, US Liquids, Weyerhauser, Georgia Pacific, ChevronTexaco, Marathon Oil, Deutsche Telekom, Nestle, Southern California Gas, ITT, Textron, Corning, Whole Foods, Hains Celestial] (Susannah Blake Goodman, Jonas Kron & Tim Little, The Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment, 21 Aug. 2002)

SEC [U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission] Urged to Strengthen Rules Governing Corporate Disclosure of Environmental Risks - The Rose Foundation is petitioning the SEC to require more comprehensive disclosure of environmental liabilities, allowing investors to assess the potential effect on shareowner value. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 21 Aug. 2002)

SIGN3-Asia Official Launch: a meeting to present SIGN3-Asia, "Sustainable Investments, Global Network for Asia" - at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, 29 Aug. 2002 (European Partners for the Environment) [added to this site on 16 Aug. 2002]

FTSE4Good to Fortify Human Rights Criteria - FTSE4Good is conducting market consultation in preparation for strengthening human rights criteria for inclusion in its socially responsible indexes and funds. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 8 Aug. 2002)

South Africa's Nedbank launches green unit trust -...The Nedbank Sustainable Investment Index Fund would weight South Africa's top 40 companies with a sustainability score reflecting compliance with international best practice (Reuters, 8 Aug. 2002) 

Let the Word Go Forth from Hershey, Pennsylvania That Americans Believe That Corporate Rights Come with Corporate Obligations -...I suggest 28 words be added to the duty of corporations to advance the interests of shareholders--28 words that will balance the pursuit of the corporation's private interest with obligations to the public interest. I call these words the Code for Corporate Citizenship. The Code would simply modify the duty to maximize profits with affirmative obligations that profits not come "at the expense of the environment, human rights, the public health or safety, the dignity of employees or the welfare of our communities." Companies that violate the Code would be legally liable to the members of the public whose interest is damaged. (Robert Hinkley, corporate lawyer, former partner in the New York law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, speech to Hershey Foods rally on 3 Aug. 2002, published on CommonDreams website 5 Aug. 2002)

AFL-CIO cancels protest - Fidelity agrees to discuss proxy issue with labor group [USA] - The AFL-CIO canceled a march to Fidelity Investments' headquarters yesterday after Fidelity officials agreed to meet and discuss the labor group's call for the mutual fund firm to start making its proxy votes available to the public. (Louise Story, Boston Globe, 1 Aug. 2002)

Human Rights and the Responsibility of Companies (ING Sustainable Growth Fund, Aug. 2002)

A bad year for FTSE4Good -...the very fact that the indices have taken such an inclusive approach has prompted claims that they are not ethical enough. Some of those who think of themselves as ethical investors wouldn't want their money going anywhere near some of the oil, gas and drugs companies and high street banks that feature in them. (Rupert Jones, Guardian [UK], 27 July 2002)

Oil and Gas Company Environmental Risk Should Concern Investors - Innovest and the World Resources Institute released reports this week that illustrate how environmental risk can affect the shareowner value of oil and gas companies [refers to Royal Dutch/Shell, BP, ExxonMobil, TotalFinaElf, ChevronTexaco, Occidental Petroleum, Repsol, Unocal, Burlington Resources, Valero, Sunoco, Suncor] (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 25 July 2002)

• WRI report warns environmental risks could reduce shareholder value of leading oil and gas companies (World Resources Institute, 24 July 2002)

• full report: Changing Oil: Emerging environmental risks and shareholder value in the oil and gas industry (Duncan Austin & Amanda Sauer, World Resources Institute, 2002)

• Innovest Oil and Gas Study Shows 17.3% Five Year Outperformance by Higher Rated Companies - Report Also Finds P/E, Operating Profit, Intangible Value Strongly Correlated with Sustainability Leadership -...The report examines the extent to which environmental, social and political factors influence the generation and protection of shareholder value within the oil and gas industry and provides strong evidence of the financial merits of sustainability leadership. (Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, Inc., 23 July 2002)

British Law Requiring SRI Reporting by Pension Funds Fails to Generate Best Practice - A recently released report identifies gaps between UK pension funds' stated commitment to SRI issues and their actual implementation of SRI practices -...Just Pensions, a consortium established in 2000 in part to track the effects of the Pensions Act amendment, released a report last week documenting the lack of progress in SRI practice. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 24 July 2002)

• Pension funds are not investing responsibly, says new report - A new report shows that most UK pension funds are not investing responsibly because they are still failing to take proper account of socially responsible investment (Just Pensions, 15 July 2002)

• full report: Do UK Pension Funds Invest Responsibly? A survey of current practice on Socially Responsible Investment (David Coles & Duncan Green, Just Pensions, July 2002)  

FTSE start consultation on FTSE4Good Human Rights Criteria - FTSE is running a market consultation exercise to gather market input as to future developments of the FTSE4Good Human Rights Criteria. The consultation runs from 22 July to 9 August 2002. To participate in the consultation exercise please visit FTSE4Good Human Rights consultation [http://webserver2.ftse.com/ftse4good-consultation] (FTSE, 22 July 2002)

• FTSE4Good Human rights consultation -...This consultation will be an essential element in determining the human rights criteria for the FTSE4Good indices...All submissions to the consultation must be received by close of business 9 August 2002. (FTSE)

• Call for market consultation for developing the FTSE4Good human rights criteria (Ethical Corporation Magazine, 17 July 2002)

Global California: State employees' pension fund flexes its muscle around the world -...The California Public Employees Retirement System, which handles the pensions for state workers, recently enacted a long-delayed program to screen all its overseas "emerging markets" investments to ensure that they are not contributing to human rights and labor rights violations...Mexico...got low scores from CalPERS for its suppression of independent labor unions and almost wound up on the blacklist. [also refers to China, Russia, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia] [refers to Abercrombie & Fitch and Jones Apparel Group] (Robert Collier, San Francisco Chronicle, 21 July 2002)

Analysis: Increasing the criteria for sustainable indices and SRI investment - FTSE4Good and Morley Fund Management have both tightened up their rules for indices and investment inclusion recently. Roger Cowe investigates to find out by just how much. (Roger Cowe, in Ethical Corporation Magazine, 17 July 2002)

South African Community Growth Fund Celebrates Tenth Anniversary - The Community Growth Fund invests in South African companies committed to sustainable development and triple bottom line reporting [refers to companies that went through protracted process before qualifying for CGF investment: South African Breweries, Rand Water, Naspers Group; companies removed from the CGF: Western Deep Level mine, Hoskens Consolidated Investments, Liberty Life; companies that refused to submit to CGF's social audit: Aspen Pharmacare, Sun International, Vanadium Corp. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 17 July 2002) 

Capital in Crisis - ACTU [Australian Council of Trade Unions] president Sharan Burrow outlines the global union response to the corporate carnage gripping an increasingly shaky system -..."There is ongoing work from global unions in regard to how you manage social responsibility within the business community, capitalism and multinational corporations more broadly." [includes reference to U.N. Global Compact, Global Reporting Initiative, socially responsible investment] (Workers Online, Labor Council of New South Wales, 12 July 2002)

Investment Partnership Has SRI Mandate: The Global Environment Fund Group manages four funds and is a majority owner of a South Africa-based forestry company -...GEF holds a controlling interest in Global Forest Products (GFP), a South Africa-based forestry company. GFP is exemplary in terms of the sustainability of its operations. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 11 July 2002) 

Study Shows Eco-Efficiency Yields Healthy Returns on Pharmaceuticals’ Stock - Pharmaceutical companies with superior environmental performance have outperformed laggards by 17% in the stock market over the past year, according to a new study (GreenBiz.com, 3 July 2002)

• Eco-Efficient Pharmaceutical Companies Have Higher Share Value (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 3 July 2002)

Ownership and Sustainability: The Case for Shareholder Activism to Promote Corporate Responsibility - An Interview with Robert Monks [the world's highest profile shareholder activist; founder of Lens, an institutional shareholder activist fund, and Institutional Shareholder Services, now the leading provider of proxy voting and corporate governance services] (Multinational Monitor, July-Aug. 2002)

Analysis: Ethics Erosion - Why SRI needs a standard - The SRI movement is in danger of undermining its own principles, by allowing an increasing number of 'ethically challenged' companies into their fold. In fact, rather than improving the world we're in, the growing market for ethical investment is leading to the erosion of ethical standards. (Deborah Doane, New Economics Foundation, in Ethical Corporation Magazine, 27 June 2002)

Shareowner Support for Resolutions Increases Significantly This Proxy Season [USA] - Support for proposals concerning corporate governance as well as social and environmental issues in the 2002 proxy season is reaching record levels. [includes reference to resolutions at American Standard, Eastman Kodak, Niagara Mohawk Power, Unocal] (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 27 June 2002)

The whole world wants Ivanhoe to withdraw from Burma - As the Canadian-based Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.'s holds its annual shareholders meeting today in Vancouver, the Canadian Labour Congress and the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) are urging the company to end its mining joint venture with the Burmese military regime and withdraw its investments from Burma...Ivanhoe's Monywa Copper Mine...is the largest foreign mining investment in Burma and has been linked to the mass conscription of forced labour as well as the severe environmental degradation of the surrounding area. (Canadian Labour Congress and ICEM, 25 June 2002)

• company website: Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.

Triple Bottom Line Investing Conference 2002 - November 7-8, 2002, Brussels, Belgium [added to this website on 24 June 2002]

Sustainable and Responsible Investment: Practical Applications in Asia - ASrIA Annual Conference 2002 - 28-30 October 2002 at the United Nations University, Tokyo, Japan (ASrIA - Association for Sustainable & Responsible Investment in Asia) [added to this website on 21 June 2002]

Human rights and accountability -...At the World Economic Forum, I was given a prominent role on various panels with business leaders who were keen to hear about human rights. At the same time, there were demonstrations outside and I'm sure there were Amnesty people in those demonstrations. We didn't see a contradiction, because we felt there was room for both ways of approaching business. We find the oil companies in Europe more open to dialogue than those in the US. Amnesty USA has been trying to have a dialogue with ExxonMobil on their human rights practices for some time and has made no headway, so they bought some shares and went into their recent AGM and tried to put pressure on that way. (comments by Irene Khan, Secretary-General of Amnesty International, in article by Alison Maitland, Financial Times, 13 June 2002)

World's poor miss out on ethical investment boom - British ethical investment funds have largely steered clear of the developing world, where working conditions are often poor and economic growth needed most. Fund managers say that although they would like to invest in poor nations and force change for the better, companies are too opaque to even allow them to get started. (Oliver Bullough, Reuters, 12 June 2002)

Domini Social Investments Reports Record Shareholder Votes for 2002 Proxy Season - Socially Responsible Firm Says Post-Enron "Crisis of Confidence" Fueled Shareholder Discontent with Corporate Social and Environmental Performance [includes reference to Household International, Cooper Industries, Gap, Walt Disney Co., McDonald's, Nordstrom, Sears Roebuck, Coca-Cola, Pepsi] (Domini Social Investments, 12 June 2002)

Institutional Investors collaborate on Greenhouse Gas Emissions Questionnaire- Today a group of large institutional investors with significant assets wrote to the 500 largest quoted companies in the world by market capitalisation asking for the disclosure of investment-relevant information concerning their greenhouse gas emissions. (Carbon Disclosure Project, 31 May 2002)

• Institutional Investors Press Largest Companies to Disclose Greenhouse Gas Emissions -...The correlation between corporate environmental performance and shareowner value has gained increasing validation, prompting investors to request greater transparency on environmental issues from their companies. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 31 May 2002)

Pulp Fiction – Credit Suisse and the destruction of the Indonesian rainforest -... The Indonesian pulp and paper corporation Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) is responsible for the destruction of large parts of the Indonesian rainforest, one of the world’s richest in the diversity of its species, and for the expulsion of its inhabitants. Credit Suisse plays a special role among the over 300 Indonesian and international banks that finance APP. (Berne Declaration and ACTARES [Shareholders for a Sustainable Development], 31 May 2002)

• {···français} Pulp Fiction - Credit Suisse et la destruction des forêts tropicales (Déclaration de Berne & ACTARES [Actionnariat pour une économie durable], 31 mai 2002)

• {···deutsch} Pulp Fiction - Credit Suisse und die Zerstörung von Regenwald (Erklärung von Bern und ACTARES [AktionärInnen für nachhaltiges Wirtschaften], 31 Mai 2002)

Shareholders blast ExxonMobil - Criticism runs gamut from human rights to compensation - ExxonMobil shareholders on Wednesday lit into the oil-and-gas giant and Chairman Lee Raymond at the annual meeting, criticizing the company's practices on everything from renewable energy sources to the appointment of board members. (Lisa Sanders, CBS.MarketWatch, 29 May 2002)

• [Amnesty International USA] Update May 29, 2002: 374 million shares voted in favor - Today at ExxonMobil's annual shareholder meeting, approximately 374 million shares representing over $15 billion in shareholder equity were voted in favor of a human rights policy resolution sponsored by Amnesty International. While the vote represented only about 6.8% of the over 5.5 billion shares voted, it is far in excess of the 3% minimum required to reintroduce the proposal next year. (Amnesty International USA, 29 May 2002)

• Exxon Mobil shareholders dodge protesters as meeting begins - Shareholders of Exxon Mobil Corp. backed management Wednesday on a series of contentious issues but signaled strong support to promote renewable energy and explicitly ban discrimination against gays. (David Koenig, AP, 29 May 2002)

• Activist Shareholders Get 'Huge Win' With Over 20% in ExxonMobil Global-Warming Resolution Vote - More than Doubled Vote Total Boosts Efforts to Change ExxonMobil's Isolation on Global Warming (Campaign ExxonMobil, 29 May 2002)

• A resolution demanding Exxon outline its future plans for the promotion of renewable energy gained an unprecedented 20.3 percent of shareholders' votes - $55 billion in shares - at the company's annual meeting in Dallas Texas. (StopEsso coalition, 30 May 2002)

• Deaf Exxon -...A proposal to be put to a shareholder vote, requiring the group to develop a plan for renewable energy, has won the support of Institutional Shareholder Services, an important American proxy services firm which advises big investors how they should vote. So, too, has another proposal, requiring Exxon to prohibit discrimination against gay workers. (Guardian [UK], 30 May 2002) [note: this is a sub-article which appears under the article entitled: "Problems for over-energetic Cheney"...scroll down the page]

[CalPERS decides to vote its 30,828,796 shares of ExxonMobil in favour of shareholder proposal filed by Amnesty International USA calling on the company to adopt a comprehensive human rights policy] - Shareholder Proposal: Adopt comprehensive human rights policy - For - CalPERS is a supporter of best practices in domestic and international operations (CalPERS, Proxy Voting Decisions for 29 May 2002 shareholder meeting of ExxonMobil)

All Things Considered [NPR radio programme]: Exxon Shareholders [audio] - Commentator Chip Pitts says tomorrow in Dallas, Exxon-Mobil will hold its annual shareholders' meeting. Representatives of Amnesty International will also be present. The non-profit organization has bought shares in Exxon-Mobil so that it can introduce a shareholder resolution -- a human rights policy for the corporation. (All Things Considered, NPR, 28 May 2002)

Annual Meeting Focuses Pressure on ExxonMobil: Some shareowners and NGOs claim that ExxonMobil's environmental and social practices are hurting the company's profitability -...At its May 29 annual meeting, ExxonMobil shareowner will vote on eight resolutions that concern issues ranging from human rights abuses to global warming. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 24 May 2002)

Social Indexes Beef Up Environmental Criteria to Promote Corporate Social Responsibility - FTSE4Good announces tougher environmental criteria for inclusion on its indexes, and answers critics who question whether this strategy will elicit corporate change (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 23 May 2002)

Unocal Shareholder Move on Labor Rights Makes Major Headway - A resolution calling on United States oil giant Unocal Corporation to adopt a workers' rights policy gained the support of almost one third of the shares voted at the company's annual shareholder's meeting in California this week in what corporate social responsibility advocates hailed as an unprecedented advance in the movement to press companies to respect human rights...The move was targeted in particular at Unocal's operations in Myanmar (formerly Burma), which have been accused by the ILO and the U.S. state department of using forced labor and child labor. (Jim Lobe, OneWorld US, 22 May 2002)

The Matrix: a New Tool for Assessing Corporate Social Responsibility - Last week, London-based Morley Fund Management introduced its Sustainability Matrix, which ranks companies listed on the FTSE 100 index based on their social and environmental performance. And the March 2002 issue of the Harvard Business Review included an article that introduced the virtue matrix, which categorizes corporate "virtue," or a company's social and environmental practices. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 22 May 2002)

• Morley Fund Management publishes Sustainability Matrix - Morley Fund Management today releases its first Sustainability Matrix. This Matrix ranks FTSE 100 companies according to social and environmental criteria and provides a new measure of business sustainability. (Morley Fund Management, 13 May 2002)

• The Virtue Matrix: Calculating the Return on Corporate Responsibility (Roger L. Martin, Dean and Professor of Strategy at the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, in Harvard Business Review, Mar. 2002)

Big Unocal Shareholder Support For Worker Rights Proposal: No new investments in Burma, energy giant pledges - A resolution calling on energy multinational Unocal to adopt a workers' rights policy was supported by over 31 percent of the shares voting at the company's annual shareholder meeting in the US this Monday. (ICEM - International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions, 22 May 2002

• Worker Shareholders Challenge Unocal's Plans for New Investment in Burma And Ask for Commitment to Global Labor Standards (AFL-CIO, 20 May 2002)

• Investors to back TUC action on Burma - A number of large UK institutional investors will vote in favour of a shareholder resolution at the AGM of US energy company Unocal today (Monday), following a global trade union campaign. (TUC, 20 May 2002)

'Lite' index is accused over quality standards: The FTSE4Good Index - The UK's main "ethical" investing index is being accused of watering down green standards by including "unethical" companies...the New Economic Foundation (NEF), a think-tank, says the UK index includes companies with "poor ethical and environmental reputations". (Steve Johnson, Financial Times, 11 May 2002)

• Ethical Investment standards being eroded: New Economics Foundation calls for a certified standard for socially responsible investment - The burgeoning market for ethical investment is leading to the erosion of ethical standards according to new research from the New Economics Foundation (New Economics Foundation, 21 Apr. 2002)

• full report: An Ethical Door Policy: How to avoid the erosion of ethics in Socially Responsible Investment (Deborah Doane & Ed Mayo, New Economics Foundation, 2002)

• RBoS' Direct Line, others 'watering down' ethical criteria - study - "No accreditation or standard exists for SRI funds in the UK. As a result, new SRI entrants such as Direct Line who base their fund on the FTSE4Good 50 Index include companies with poor ethical and environmental reputations" (AFX, 7 May 2002)

Premier Oil: UK company bad in Burma, putrid in Pakistan -...Campaigners from The Burma Campaign UK and Friends of the Earth have bought one share each in Premier Oil and will be going into the AGM, after the demonstration. The shareholders will be asking the board difficult questions about its controversial activities, and whether they are damaging shareholder value. (Friends of the Earth, 10 May 2002)

• company website: Premier Oil

Gap worker in Africa stabbed, others in Central America threatened, rights violated in multiple countries: Gap Sweatshop Workers to Confront Gap Shareholders on Friday at Annual Meeting in Albuquerque With New Evidence of Labor Abuses - Employee at Gap Factory in Lesotho Stabbed by Plant Manager while Protesting Conditions; She Was Scheduled to Attend Shareholder Meeting, but U.S. State Dept. Denies Visa and Muzzles Worker Voice Against Large U.S. Retailer [refers to El Salvador and Guatemala] (UNITE - Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, 9 May 2002)

• company website: Gap Inc.: Ethical Sourcing (Gap)

Survivors of Bhopal deadly chemical disaster overshadow Dow annual meeting - Representatives of survivors of the world's worst chemical disaster in Bhopal, India, travelled with Greenpeace and other support organisations to Dow Chemical's annual shareholders meeting in Michigan, the United States today to confront the company on its pending liabilities. (Greenpeace, 9 May 2002)

Unocal Shareholders Urged to Back Corporate Best Practice: Burma Disinvestment Campaign Continues (ICEM - International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions, 8 May 2002)

{···français} Les assemblées générales, nouveaux lieux de pouvoir [France] -...L'analyse de 38 assemblées générales réalisée par l'Observatoire sur la responsabilité sociétale des entreprises (ORSE) confirme ce point de vue : les questions ayant trait à la responsabilité sociale et environnementale des firmes augmentent. (Marc Ferracci et Aude Soulaine, Le Monde, 8 mai 2002)

Swarthmore Presses Ahead with Lockheed Challenge Following Shareholder Vote [USA] - Buoyed by developments at Lockheed Martin’s recent shareholders meeting, Swarthmore College will continue to press the company to broaden its anti-discrimination policy to include sexual orientation. (Swarthmore College, 7 May 2002)

• College lobbies Lockheed on bias [USA] - Swarthmore College is using its stockholder status to press Lockheed Martin Corp. to adopt a nondiscrimination policy based on sexual orientation. (AP, in Washington Times, 2 Apr. 2002)

Debate Continues Over Effects of CalPERS' Divestment from Emerging Market Countries: Although CalPERS may reverse its decision to divest from the Philippines, the question of how divestment will affect other emerging markets remains unanswered [refers to Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines & Thailand] (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 7 May 2002) 

ExxonMobil rubbishes green investor report - ExxonMobil Corp , the world's biggest oil company, labelled as "ridiculous" a report by a group of dissident investors that the company's stance on global warming hurt shareholder value. (Stefano Ambrogi and Neil Chatterjee, Reuters, 6 May 2002) 

Mutual Fund Reports on Environmental and Social Returns: Norway-based Storebrand reports on the environmental and social performance of companies in its international mutual fund. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 3 May 2002)

Talisman in talks with India over selling Sudan - The chief executive of Talisman... confirmed it is in talks with India's national oil company and a handful of others for a sale of its controversial Sudan interests...Dr. Buckee made the comments after the company's annual meeting, which was once again dominated by confrontation with human rights and religious organizations, as well as representatives of Southern Sudan... Some even suggested that Dr. Buckee should be indicted for war crimes. (Claudia Cattaneo, Financial Post [Canada], 2 May 2002)

• Talisman confirms talks with India over Sudan property, but no deal yet -...Critics claim the operation is generating government royalties that are being used to fuel a vicious 40-year civil war. It is also said that villagers from southern Sudan have been forced off of oil-bearing lands. (James Stevenson, Canadian Press, 1 May 2002)

• Canada's silence on Sudan is a vote for oppression - Put simply, the question is: Are Canadians prepared to ignore the continuing corporate complicity, indirect or otherwise, of Calgary's Talisman Energy in the oil-driven destruction of southern Sudan? (Gary Kenny, Africa human-rights researcher/policy advocate for KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives, a partnership of 10 national churches and church organizations, in Globe and Mail [Canada], 1 May 2002)

• Churches Press Talisman to Halt Sudan Oil Output - A coalition of Canadian churches called on Talisman Energy Inc. on Tuesday to end its "partnership of blood" in Sudan and suspend oil production at the lucrative African concession. (Reuters, 30 Apr. 2002)

Socially Responsible Investors Push PepsiCo on Recycling For Second Consecutive Year: Domini, Walden, and Other Institutional Investors Encourage Company to Improve Brand Value While Saving Millions of Barrels of Oil - PepsiCo shareholders will vote today, Wednesday, May 1, on a proposal asking PepsiCo to establish a comprehensive beverage container recycling strategy. (Domini Social Investments, CSRwire, 1 May 2002)

92.5 Million Hewlett Packard Shares Voted in Support of Greater Responsibility for Environmental Impact of Junked Computers - Calvert, the nation’s largest family of socially responsible mutual funds, presented a resolution at the Hewlett Packard Annual General Meeting on Friday, April 26 asking the company to take greater responsibility for disposal of junked computers by studying ways to strengthen its computer take-back and recycling programs. (Calvert Group, 30 Apr. 2002)

Banking and sustainability: Slow starters are gaining pace -...There is growing awareness in the financial sector that environment brings risks (such as a customer’s soil degradation) and opportunities (such as environmental investment funds). (Marcel Jeucken, Senior Economist at Rabobank Group and director of Sustainability in Finance, in Ethical Corporation Magazine, 28 Apr. 2002) 

ALLTEL Shareholders Vote on Proposal Encouraging Company to Adopt More Inclusive Equal Employment Opportunity Policy - Investors with 21 million shares of ALLTEL Corporation stock, worth more than one billion dollars, voted to support a shareholder resolution at the company’s annual meeting yesterday requesting that ALLTEL amend its non-discrimination policy to explicitly bar discrimination based on sexual orientation. (Calvert Group, 26 Apr. 2002)

Ethics can be profitable, says UK's Co-Op Bank: Britain's Co-Operative Bank reported a record annual profit yesterday and said it was reaping the rewards of ethical investment. (Allan Dowd, Reuters, 24 Apr. 2002) 

ExxonMobil Shareholder Resolution Seeks Corporate Human Rights Policy: In First Shareholder Action, Amnesty International Cites Risk to Corporate Reputation of Ignoring Social Responsibility - In advance of ExxonMobil's shareholder meeting May 29, Amnesty International is seeking support for a shareholder resolution calling on ExxonMobil to adopt a comprehensive, transparent, and verifiable human rights policy to guide the company's business operations and protect communities affected by the company's global operations. (Amnesty International USA, 19 Apr. 2002)

• ExxonMobil Shareholder Action (Amnesty International USA)

• The Human Rights Policy Resolution [requesting that "the Board of Directors of ExxonMobil Corporation develop and adopt a comprehensive and verifiable human rights policy which shall include an explicit commitment to support and uphold the principles and values contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights"] (submitted by Amnesty International USA)

• Letter to 12 state and city financial officers signed by AIUSA CFO Gary Giscombe on behalf of the ten co-filers of the Human Rights Policy Resolution (Amnesty International USA, 1 Mar. 2002)

• sample letter to Exxon from shareholders (Amnesty International USA)

• sample letter to Exxon from non-shareholders (Amnesty International USA)

Green lobby loses eco-vote at BP meeting: Green groups and ethical shareholders in oil major BP lost a vote yesterday on reporting environmental risks, but said they would keep pushing the company to live up to its green marketing image. (Neil Chatterjee, Reuters, 19 Apr. 2002) 

• Activists upset BP annual meeting: As activists protesting about BP's activities in China, South America and Alaska demonstrated outside, shareholders inside London's Royal Festival Hall watched as Mr Sutherland [chairman of BP] engaged in a shouting match with a campaigner against BP's actions in Colombia. (Tobias Buck, Financial Times, 19 Apr. 2002)

• WWF calls on BP to disclose risk assessment criteria -...WWF, together with a coalition of British, European, Canadian and American investors, has filed a resolution calling on BP to disclose how it measures the risk to shareholder value from drilling in environmentally or culturally sensitive areas. (WWF, 23 Jan. 2002)

Investor Coalition Finds U.S. Corporations Face Multi-Billion Dollar Risk from Climate Change: Risk Not Adequately Assessed by Boards and Investors (CERES - Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies, 18 April 2002)

• full report: Value at Risk: Climate Change and the Future of Governance (CERES Sustainable Governance Project Report, prepared by Innovest Strategic Value Advisers, Inc., Apr. 2002)

Sample Letter for Concerned Customers and Shareholders of ExxonMobil - ICCR-Member religious investors, along with Amnesty International, are pressing ExxonMobil to create a comprehensive, verifiable human rights policy...You can send the following letter to CEO Lee Raymond (Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, 17 Apr. 2002)

"Current Efforts Meager!" Shareholders Challenge Abbott to Treat AIDS Pandemic in Africa with Affordable Drugs - Calling the company's current AIDS treatment programs "meager", religious and union shareholders are challenging Abbott Laboratories to make life-saving HIV/AIDS medicines accessible and affordable in African countries where AIDS is pandemic. (Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, 17 Apr. 2002)

The Downside of Divesting Stock (Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, 17 Apr. 2002)

BP Complicity in China's Exploitation of Tibet: Campaigners Set Sights on company AGM after BP stonewalls rights groups - Tibet campaigners have pledged to highlight at this week's BP AGM (18 April) how the company's collaboration with PetroChina makes BP complicit in abusive policies in Chinese occupied Tibet. (Free Tibet Campaign, 16 Apr. 2002)

SEC Requires ExxonMobil to Include Shareowner Resolutions on Proxy [USA] -...The SEC had only one amendment to the third shareowner resolution that will appear on ExxonMobil’s proxy, which was filed by Amnesty International and involved human rights. The words “we believe” must appear before the resolution’s statement that the company does not possess a comprehensive human rights policy. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 4 Apr. 2002)

Shareowner Resolutions Fuse Corporate Governance with Social Issues in 2002 [USA]: Yesterday, the Investor Responsibility Research Center (IRRC) and the Social Investment Forum (SIF) released a joint study of this year's crop of shareowner resolutions...Of the 712 shareholder resolutions filed in the 2002 proxy season, the report identified 261 that involve social issues and 23 that fuse corporate governance with social issues. This crossover category consists of resolutions asking for increased racial and gender diversity on corporate boards, and those asking for executive compensation to be linked to corporate social responsibility (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 28 Mar. 2002)

The New Accountability: Tracking the Social Costs:...Pressure from investors, customers, consumer activists and even some governments is pushing more companies, particularly multinational ones, to report their nonfinancial performance, detailing the impact of their businesses on the environment and human rights... McDonald's...plans to release its first sustainability report the week of April 15...In a move that advocates of social reporting say foreshadows corporate reporting to come, Shell will include its sustainability report in the same binding as its annual financial report for the first time this year, underscoring the message that the two go hand in hand. (Amy Cortese, New York Times, 24 Mar. 2002)

FTSE4Good Indexes Add Companies After Semi-Annual Review: FTSE4Good has significantly expanded its universe of socially responsible companies. (Willliam Baue, SocialFunds.com, 21 Mar. 2002)

Green protesters target Morgan Stanley meeting: Pro-environment activists attended the annual meeting of U.S. investment bank Morgan Stanley this week to protest against the bank's financing of certain projects in Asia. The campaigners have criticised the bank for backing projects such as the Three Gorges Dam in China and the Golud-Lhasa Railway in Tibet, which they say have huge environmental and social impact. (Reuters, 21 Mar. 2002)

press release: Morgan Stanley Exposed Over Controversial Asian Projects - Share Value Threat From Growing Consumer Concerns - Human rights and environmental campaigners will highlight the growing threat to investment bank Morgan Stanley's shareholder value at the company's annual general meeting in London today (19th March). Efforts to pressure Morgan Stanley are being led by Friends of the Earth, the International Rivers Network, Students for a Free Tibet and Free Tibet Campaign. The groups are all engaged in campaigns targeting Morgan Stanley for its lack of environmental and social risk management policies, which have led the company to underwrite some of the most controversial projects in Asia. These include the Three Gorges Dam in China, resource extraction projects in Tibet and rainforest destruction in Indonesia. (Friends of the Earth, International Rivers Network, Free Tibet Campaign, Students for a Free Tibet, 19 March 2002)

• full report: Rogue Traders: A Report on Morgan Stanley's Financing of Socially and Environmentally Controversial Projects in Asia (A joint report by Friends of the Earth UK, Free Tibet Campaign, Students for a Free Tibet, and International Rivers Network, 19 Mar. 2002)

• company website: Morgan Stanley (Morgan Stanley)

{···français} Faire contribuer l'entreprise à "l'intérêt général": Le "socialement responsable" est à la mode. les participants à la deuxième table ronde ont confronté réalité et démarche marketing (Le Monde, 18 mars 2002)

{···français} Comment se battre "contre l'économisme": A quelles conditions la démarche de l'économie solidaire peut-elle être amplifiée?...Ce préalable fait, les trois promoteurs du "Penser local, agir global" ont énoncé une certain nombre de pistes économiques susceptibles de développer, pour l'un, le commerce équitable, pour l'autre, la finance solidaire et pour le troisième l'éthique des multinationales. (Le Monde, 18 mars 2002)

Watchdog nuns defy big firms: For 25 years, Dominican Sisters have urged U.S. companies to be socially responsible [USA] -...The Adrian Dominicans have prepared a full slate of resolutions this year on issues ranging from global warming to sweatshops to racial and gender diversity of company board members. (Francis X. Donnelly, Detroit News, 17 Mar. 2002)

New French Law Mandates Corporate Social and Environmental Reporting: French social and environmental rating agency offered both kudos and criticism for a new law requiring French companies to disclose social and environmental performance. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 14 Mar. 2002) 

Emerging Markets List: Calpers' review 'at least once a year'  - The California Public Employees' Retirement System (Calpers), which roiled South-east Asian markets last month by saying it would exit some countries, will review which emerging markets it favours at least once a year...China failed to make it to the list because of low scores in political stability, market transparency, labour practices, market regulation and legal protection for foreign investors (Bloomberg News, in Straits Times [Singapore], 9 Mar. 2002)

Swedish global development policy: Executive Summary: A new Swedish policy for global development [final report of the Parliamentary Commission on Sweden's policy for global development (GLOBKOM)] [excerpts from page 9, section entitled "The business sector": "The experience and expertise of the Swedish business sector and trade unions should be put to better use in Swedish development assistance by including them to a greater extent in the formulation of country assistance strategies."  "The Committee proposes to study further whether a need exists for legislation requiring companies and pension funds to render social and environmental accounts and, secondly, whether there is any need to make export credits conditional on the assumption of social and environmental responsibility."] (Parliamentary Commission on Sweden's policy for global development - GLOBKOM, on the website of Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, 4 Mar. 2002)

CalPERS Divests from Four Emerging Countries: California's public pension fund withdrew its equity from four emerging countries [Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines & Thailand] in response to a review that considered social and financial factors equally. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 1 Mar. 2002)

New Canadian Social Fund Focuses on Positive Screening:...Whereas many socially responsible investment funds use screens to avoid companies with negative social and environmental records, the Social Leaders Fund focuses on positive screening. It invests in companies with strong records of social and environmental performance. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 28 Feb. 2002)

{···français} Calpers adresse un signal fort aux pays "non socialement corrects": La décision de Calpers, le plus grand fonds de pension américain, annoncée jeudi 21 février, de cesser d'investir dans quatre pays de l'Asie du Sud-Est (Thaïlande, Indonésie, Malaisie et Philippines) a jeté un froid sur les marchés. (Le Monde, 25 février 2002)

Calpers' Asia ethics motives right, tactics wrong: Right motive, wrong tactic. That's what Tessa Tennant, Asia's leading ethical investing advocate, thinks of the move by giant U.S. pension fund, Calpers, to blacklist four Southeast Asian markets [Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia] on ethical grounds. (Nick Edwards, Reuters, 25 Feb. 2002)

Pin-Striped Protesters: Activists are learning to work the capitalist system -...A cultural revolution is underway as protesters in pinstripes figure out how to work the capitalist system. To learn the new language, Greenpeace in Australia sent its corporate campaigner to a 10-week strategy course for company directors, and Friends of the Earth can now draft shareholder resolutions...Amnesty International last week released a global map of 34 countries accused of human-rights abuses, and warned that 129 multinationals working in those nations put their reputation, and their share price, at risk. (Karen Lowry Miller, Newsweek, 25 Feb. 2002)

Be concerned over Calpers’ move, gov’t urged [Malaysia]: The DAP today called on the government to seriously address the concerns of poor transparency, labour standards and human rights in the country which prompted one of the largest pension funds in the United States to withdraw its investment from Malaysia. (Susan Loone, Malaysiakini.com, 24 Feb. 2002)

M'sia [Malaysia] says Calpers investment cut shows 'lack of insight': Malaysia today suggested that the decision by the United States' largest pension fund to withdraw from several Southeast Asian nations showed a lack of insight into the region's potential.  The California Public Employees' Retirement System (Calpers) said it would withdraw from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, citing factors such as poor transparency, labor standards and human rights...Calpers said Thursday its withdrawal of public investment was linked more to financial risk than social conscience. "Some people are referring to these as social issues, but we believe that these are closely linked to the risk for an investor so in fact our decision was linked to financial performance," Calpers spokesman Brad Pacheco said. (Malaysiakini.com, 22 Feb. 2002)

Calpers’ pull-out will not affect investors’ sentiment: economists [Malaysia]: According to AWSJ [Asian Wall Street Journal], Calpers uses a complicated system that ranks 27 emerging markets on “country factors” such as political stability and “market factors” such as market regulations in making its investment decisions. Malaysia was reportedly ranked 24th out of 27 on the country factors. Malaysia’s problems were said to be political stability, transparency and labour practices. (Kevin Tan, Malaysiakini.com, 22 Feb. 2002)

Calpers withdraws from investments in Asia: Latest move stems from pension fund's concern over social responsibility, says Elizabeth Wine (Elizabeth Wine, Financial Times, 22 Feb. 2002)

• Calpers' Asian retreat is a victory for ethics: But the giant Californian pension fund's pull-back from four emerging markets goes against the tide, say FT reporters (Doug Cameron, Rahul Jacob and Elizabeth Wine, Financial Times, 22 Feb. 2002)

• Pragmatism rules in Asia's ethical investing debate [refers to Calpers new ethical standards] (Nick Edwards, Reuters, 22 Feb. 2002)

• CalPERS' New World View Hits Home in Asia Investments: The pension fund giant is pulling out stakes in four countries because of its revised standards. The California Public Employees' Retirement System said it will sell off its assets in the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, saying those countries don't meet tough new standards--that now include human rights--for emerging-markets investments. (Reuters, in Los Angeles Times, 21 Feb. 2002)

• US pension fund quits Asian countries: The largest pension fund in the United States, the California Public Employees Retirement System (Calpers), is to pull out of investments in four East Asian countries. Calpers has said it is selling investments in Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia after conducting a review of its funds using criteria including social issues and human rights. (Lesley Curwen and Manuela Saragosa, BBC News, 21 Feb. 2002)

Human rights now a factor in CalPERS investments: Fund won't support repressive regimes - In a move that could influence public employee pension plans all over the United States, California's giant state pension plan adopted a new policy on investing in developing countries yesterday that is intended to help foster human rights as well as protect state investments...Nations that are unacceptable under new CalPERS criteria: -- Philippines, Jordan, India, Thailand, Egypt, China, Malaysia, Colombia, Pakistan, Venezuela, Sri Lanka, Morocco, Indonesia, Russia. (Bill Wallace, San Francisco Chronicle, 20 Feb. 2002)

Companies 'face rising risks over human rights': Multinational companies face a growing risk of being associated with human rights violations, according to research published in London yesterday by Amnesty International and the Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum. The research examines the operations of 129 leading companies in 34 countries where human rights abuses including torture, forced child labour and denial of freedom of expression occur. (Alison Maitland, Financial Times, 13 Feb. 2002)

• full text: Business & Human Rights: A geography of corporate risk - Amnesty International and The Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) have collaborated to produce a series of seven detailed world maps, which depict where human rights abuses and violations exist and where leading North American and European multinational companies are at risk of being associated with them. The suite of maps covers the extractive, food and beverages, pharmaceutical and chemical, infrastructure and utilities, heavy manufacturing and defence, and IT Hardware and telecommunications sectors. (Amnesty International UK, and Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum, Feb. 2002)

• Atlas pinpoints countries where investment flows despite abuses: A world atlas of countries where multinationals co-exist with regimes inflicting human rights abuse was presented yesterday at the launch of a campaign for ethical investment...The study, the first of its kind, will be used by Amnesty International and the Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum to press companies to take account of human rights when making commercial decisions. (Kim Sengupta, Independent [UK], 13 Feb. 2002)

• Atlas warns firms of rights abuses: Campaigners have drawn up a world atlas of human rights violations to alert multinational corporations to the damage that can be caused to their business and reputations by being associated with human rights abuses in countries in which they operate (Guardian [UK], 13 Feb. 2002)

First Nasdaq-based Social Index Unveiled: KLD and Nasdaq create the KLD-Nasdaq Social Index, the first index to screen Nasdaq companies for social and environmental criteria. (Mark Thomsen, SocialFunds.com, 12 Feb. 2002) 

Alaskan Wilderness Oil Drilling Risky to Shareowner Value: A shareowner resolution asks BP to assess the damage to its reputation that would result from oil drilling in the Alaskan wilderness, and a new study highlights the economic risks of drilling. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 7 Feb. 2002)

Seeking Nondiscrimination in the Workplace: Shareholders of Emerson voted Tuesday February 5th on whether the electrical equipment manufacturer should amend its employment opportunity policy to bar discrimination based on sexual orientation. (Pride Foundation, 7 Feb. 2002)

• Investors urge Emerson to bar discrimination against gays, lesbians: Pride Foundation and Domini Social Investments Say Company’s Employment Policies Should Forbid Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation (Domini Social Investments, 4 Feb. 2002)

IBLF and Amnesty map out key areas of global corporate risk: Amnesty International and The Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) have collaborated to produce a series of seven detailed world maps, which depict where human rights abuses and violations exist and where leading North American and European multinational companies are at risk of being associated with them (Ethical Corporation Magazine, Feb. 2002)

Reforming foreign capital flows - The role of socially responsible investment (Nick Robins, Head of SRI Research at Henderson Global Investors, in Ethical Corporation Magazine, Feb. 2002)

Greens invoke profit motive for annual attack on BP: Green groups and ethical shareholders whose radical proposals have hijacked oil firm BP's annual meetings twice before will this year appeal to investors' pockets rather than to their hearts. On April 18 shareholders will vote on a World Wildlife Fund resolution calling on the British multinational to disclose how it measures the risks to its investors of drilling in environmentally sensitive areas (Andrew Callus, Reuters, 24 Jan. 2002)

Human Rights - is it Any of Your Business? (Richard Boele and Nicolette Boele, members of the national business team of Amnesty International Australia, in Australian Financial Review, 22 Jan. 2002)

Canadian Citizens and Investors Favor Corporate Accountability [results of poll announced by Canadian Democracy and Corporate Accountability Commission] (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 16 Jan. 2002)

Phase-out of Mercury Thermometers Continues to Rise: In response to shareowner action campaign, most large pharmacy chains are voluntarily phasing out mercury thermometers. The campaign is now turning to the health care industry. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 10 Jan. 2002) 

Walden Asset Management Announces Shareholder Advocacy Actions for 2002 [includes shareholder resolutions on the following issues & companies: Climate Change - Exxon Mobil, ChevronTexaco and Occidental Petroleum; Mercury Pollution - J.C. Penney and HCA; Indigenous Peoples' Rights - Lehman Brothers; Sweatshop/Vendor Standards - TJX, Kohl's, Delphi Automotive, Hasbro, Sears and Lowes; Health Risk Caused by Cigarette Filters - Eastman Chemical; Drug Accessibility - Abbott, Bristol-Myers Squibb; impact of drilling in environmentally sensitive areas - BP Amoco] (Walden Asset Management, 4 Jan. 2002)

Access to essential medicines (ING Sustainable Growth Fund, Jan. 2002)

The pressure from above: Fiona Cuthbert, analyst at Morley Fund Management, talks to Ethical Corporation about the current Burma campaign and what a collective force of £400 billion in assets can do to encourage Corporate Social Responsibility programmes in multinational companies (Ethical Corporation magazine, Jan. 2002)

Environmental and Social Responsibility Resolutions Filed for 2002 [relating to ExxonMobil] (Campaign ExxonMobil)

2001:

Resolution Urges ExxonMobil to Strip Chair from its CEO, a Global Warming Naysayer: Robert Monks' resolution claims that ExxonMobil Chairman and CEO Lee Raymond's denial of global warming is harming the company's reputation and shareowner value. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 21 Dec. 2001)

"E-Waste Not," Calvert Says to Computer Companies: The Calvert Group has filed shareowner resolutions with the major U.S. computer producers, urging them to investigate ways to counteract electronic waste. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 20 Dec. 2001)

New Resolution Targets ExxonMobil Board and CEO Over Loss of Value: Action reflects growing discontent with ExxonMobil's position on global warming (Campaign ExxonMobil, 18 Dec. 2001)

Domini Social Investments urges SEC to mandate proxy disclosure...says fund investors have a right to know - Domini Social Investments...has sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) urging adoption of a rule requiring all mutual funds to adopt and publish proxy-voting policies and to record and publicly disclose their proxy votes. (Domini Social Investments, 12 Dec. 2001)

Study Correlates Shareowner Rights with Strong Stock Price Performance: Through the 1990s, stock in firms that preserved shareowner rights outperformed companies that bolstered management’s power, according to an academic paper. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 7 Dec. 2001)

EC [European Commission] Adopts Sustainable and Responsible Investing with the Launch of Eurosif: Social investment forums throughout Europe joined forces to establish Eurosif, which will centralize efforts to promote socially responsible investing on the European continent. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 5 Dec. 2001)

Investors link for Burma protest: Eight of the largest UK and continental European investors will today join forces to put pressure on companies with interests in Burma, amid continuing evidence of human rights abuses. In a joint statement, the investors will call on companies to "justify their involvement" in Burma by publishing independently verified assessments of the risks they are taking with shareholders' money. They will also urge companies to establish effective strategies for promoting human rights and combating corruption. (Simon Targett, Financial Times, 3 Dec. 2001)

• Fund giants warn against Burma trade: Eight investment giants, with assets of £400bn between them, have warned against the risks of investing in Burma. (BBC News, 3 Dec. 2001)

Amnesty to ExxonMobil: Do the Right Thing - earlier this year Amnesty USA filed its first shareholder resolution. The resolution asks ExxonMobil to adopt a "human rights policy which shall include an explicit commitment to support and uphold the principles and values contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights." [based on interview of Mort Winston, Amnesty USA’s former Board Chair and current head of its Business and Economic Relations Group] (Simon Billenness, Trillium Asset Management, in Investing for a Better World, Dec. 2001)

US socially-screened investments grow despite market slump: Assets in socially-screened investment portfolios climbed 36 percent to $2.01 trillion from 1999 to 2001 despite a slumping stock market, the Social Investment Forum said this week. The Forum said that tobacco is the most widely-used screen. Others that are popular with social investors include weapons, human rights, employment/equality, alcohol, environmental and gambling. (Reuters, 30 Nov. 2001)

• press release: Report: Socially screened assets grew 1.5 times faster than all U.S. managed portfolio assets since 1999 (Social Investment Forum, 28 Nov. 2001)

• full report: 2001 Report on Socially Responsible Investing Trends in the United States (Social Investment Forum, 28 Nov. 2001)

LAPFF Reveals New Shareholder Engagement on Labour Standards: The £40 billion Local Authority Pension Fund Forum has unveiled a new phase in its three year long campaign to raise overseas labour standards in the supply chains of UK retailers. The Forum has analysed the codes of conduct adopted by the nine retail groups in the FTSE100 in order to identify which are the most comprehensive and which are weakest...The two companies with the most comprehensive codes were Safeway and Tesco. All other companies ignore at least one of the 'core' labour standards agreed by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). (Local Authority Pension Fund Forum [UK] in CSRwire, 28 Nov. 2001)

Shareowners Increase Social Activism Significantly in 2001: Research released by the Investor Responsibility Research Center reveals upward trends for shareowner activism on social issues...Voorhes considers global labor standards, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and board diversification the hot topics fueling this recent rise in shareowner activism. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 28 Nov. 2001)

FTSE4Good Adds Final Two Indexes to its Series: FTSE launches the FTSE4Good Global Index and the FTSE4Good US Index, the last two in its series of eight indexes covering the performance of companies practicing corporate social responsibility...FTSE determines companies’ eligibility for inclusion by applying standards in three criteria areas: environmental sustainability; upholding and supporting universal human rights; and positive relations with stakeholders. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 21 Nov. 2001)

Directing the Faithful Call for Corporate Social Responsibility - An interview with Sister Patricia Wolf, executive director of ICCR [Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility], reveals how ICCR has remained a driving force in the corporate social responsibility movement and what might be in store for ICCR in the future. (Mark Thomsen, SocialFunds.com, 8 Nov. 2001) 

Inaugural Conference of the Association for Sustainable & Responsible Investment in Asia - 2 November 2001 - Hong Kong (Association for Sustainable & Responsible Investment in Asia)

• SRI [sustainable & responsible investment] Initiatives in Hong Kong & Asia - where moral and business bottom lines coincide (speech by Richard Yin, Chairman of Kingsway Fund Management, at the Inaugural Conference of the Association for Sustainable & Responsible Investment in Asia, 1 Nov. 2001)

Interview with Mark Wade, Shell Sustainable Development Group -...How is Shell going about becoming a truly sustainability-supporting company?...What are institutional investors asking for from Shell today that they didn’t ask for 5 years ago? (Ethical Corporation Magazine, 1 Nov. 2001)

A Tip for Wall Street: Don't Help the Bad Guys - In 1998, Trillium Asset Management Corporation (TAMC) attended a shareholder meeting at California-based Unocal Corporation. TAMC was protesting a gas pipeline deal that would have put millions of dollars into the hands of a regime that oppressed women and ethnic minorities, sponsored the opium trade, and had connections to terrorists. The proposed partner was Afghanistan's fledgling Taliban regime. (Blaine Townsend, Trillium Asset Management, in Investing for a Better World, Nov. 2001)

SRI in Asia: An introduction to sustainable and responsible investment (SRI) in Asia (Association for Sustainable & Responsible Investment in Asia, Nov. 2001)

British Insurers Demand Corporate Social Responsibility: The Association of British Insurers recently announced that its members will expect companies to disclose how social, environmental and ethical risks are being handled...The over 400 members of the ABI, a trade association for Britain's insurance industry, account for more than 20 percent of stock market investment in London. Such clout ensures that companies will take the guidelines seriously...."Our focus is on enhancing value in companies through effective response to risks." (Mark Thomsen, SocialFunds.com, 30 Oct. 2001) 

Is FTSE4Good just stock market capitalism dressed in green? Craig Mackenzie [FTSE4Good Advisory Committee Deputy Chairman] and Rob Cartridge [Campaigns Director for War on Want] debate the credentials of the new stock index that boasts environmental standards (The Ecologist, 26 Oct. 2001)

Big investors press for social responsibility [UK]: Britain's biggest investors are to put greater pressure on companies to sign up to the principles of corporate social responsibility, under tough new guidelines published yesterday by the Association of British Insurers. The move by the ABI, whose members control one quarter of the UK stock market, represents a significant shift by investors, who have traditionally seen social responsibility as a "distraction". Douglas Alexander, minister for corporate social responsibility, who addressed yesterday's ABI conference, signalled that the government might make a new operating and financial review - giving details on a company's approach to social and environmental issues - mandatory for the "most economically significant" companies...New research published by the ABI, shows that there are risks to shareholder value from human rights abuses, poor treatment of workers, suppliers and customers. (Simon Targett, Financial Times, 24 Oct. 2001)

Social Investors Press Unocal to Cut Ties to Burma: Social investors have become part of a sophisticated, multi-pronged campaign to keep the Burma issue in front Unocal senior management. (part II of a two-part article) -...Social investor activities to pressure the oil company, which in the past focused on shareowner resolutions and dialogue, have taken a step deeper into the investment world to include analyst meetings. "Investors are realizing the risk of doing business with [Burma's military junta] simply outweigh the benefits," said Heidi Quante of the Unocal Corporate Accountability Campaign. The Campaign, which is a project of Global Exchange, is working with shareowners to get Unocal to withdraw from Burma. (Mark Thomsen, SocialFunds.com, 24 Oct. 2001) 

Students Push University of Virginia out of Unocal: Unocal is feeling pressure from activists because the company continues to do business with Burma's ruling military regime. (part one of a two-part article) - Last week, students at the University of Virginia (UVA) succeeded in persuading UVA's administration to divest the University's 50,000 shares of stock in Unocal, a California-based oil company that is doing business with Burma's (Myanmar's) military rulers. Students were pushing for divestiture because of the company's complicity in human rights violations inflicted by the military. (Mark Thomsen, SocialFunds.com, 23 Oct. 2001) 

WRI [World Resource Institute] Recognizes Eco-Friendly Enterprises: New Ventures program aims to bring together socially responsible venture capitalists with environment-friendly businesses looking to expand. Three enterprises won a competition sponsored by World Resource Institute (WRI)’s New Ventures program at its 2001 Investment Forum in Angra dos Reos, Brazil October 4-5. The award recognizes profitability coupled with environmentally sound practices. Of the nine contenders this year, the three winners are: Vehizero, an urban delivery vehicle provider that brings low-cost, environment-friendly hybrid electricity vehicles to the Mexican market; Rainforest Expeditions, an ecotourism outfit that is expanding to build an eco-lodge in Peru’s Sacred Valley, promising conservation assistance and community development there; and GE Forestal, a Peruvian forestry company that brings certified lumber and wood products to the international market while also investing in innovative reforestation techniques. (Susan Wennemyr, SocialFunds.com, 19 Oct. 2001)

Beyond Burma: Following the decision by the University's [University of Virginia's] investment manager to sell off University stock in Unocal, the fight for divestment from Burma has come to a conclusion. But the work does not end here. The Board of Visitors should continue to welcome students' input and investigate ways for the University to make ethical investments in the future...The fact that the University's money managers could acquire and hold onto stock with ties to Burma indicates that human rights and ethical concerns don't have enough of an impact on investment decisions. The Board should commit to finding a feasible way for University investments to be overseen and evaluated on an ethical basis. Until this occurs, there is nothing to prevent a similar situation from arising with other stock in the future. (editorial, Cavalier Daily [University of Virginia], 19 Oct. 2001) [note: scroll down to the second editorial on the page]

University [University of Virginia] sells stock in Unocal company: The nine-month student campaign for divestment from Unocal, a stock previously held by the University, is over. The University's investment manager, Richard Mayo, sold Unocal stock last week...Mayo told The Daily Progress Tuesday that he was influenced by the student campaigns and controversy on Grounds. "You've got to respect what your client's pressures are," Mayo said. "If I have something just as good [as Unocal] that I could own, why leave [the issue] out there festering."..."We plan to use the case of Unocal in Burma as a case study to further the dialogue we've been having about a standard of ethical investments," Fifer [Student Council President Abby Fifer] said. The Free Burma Coalition will continue pressing for a creation of a committee on ethical business practices, a code of conduct for outside money managers and "ways to harness stockholder resolutions," Freedman-Schnapp [Free Burma Coalition Campaign Manager Michael Freedman-Schnapp] said (Deirdre Erin Murphy, Cavalier Daily [University of Virginia], 18 Oct. 2001)

Sustainability in the U.S. Sees Hurdles, Future Growth: Symposium discusses market hesitance and corporate attraction to embracing sustainability. Yesterday, representatives from the private sector, academia, and government gathered at a symposium to discuss how companies and the financial markets value sustainability, and how companies are benefiting from their sustainability initiatives. (Mark Thomsen, SocialFunds.com, 18 Oct. 2001)

University of Virginia Divests 50,000 Shares from UNOCAL: Rogue Oil Company That Attempted to Build Pipeline With Taliban Comes Under Fire From Students, Faculty, Seven Nobel Peace Laureates for Abuses in Burma -...The move makes UVA the third public university to divest of stock in oil corporations that have operated in the southeast Asian country. The University of Wisconsin divested $250,000 from Texaco and the University of Minnesota divested $1.5 million from France-based Total. Earlier this year, American University in Washington, DC removed items made in Burma from the campus store (15 Oct. 2001, Free  Burma Coalition)

New European Sustainability Indexes Launched: Four Dow Jones STOXX Sustainability Indexes are introduced to satisfy the growing demand for sustainability benchmarks in Europe. (Mark Thomsen, SocialFunds.com, 15 Oct. 2001)

Europe Tightens Corporate Environmental Accounting Rules: The European Commission has issued stricter guidelines for all financial environmental costs and liabilities reporting by companies covered by European Union accounting directives. The voluntary recommendation clarifies existing European Union accounting rules and seeks to improve the quality, transparency and comparability of environmental data in EU companies' financial reports to stakeholders. (Donald Sutherland, Environment News Service, 5 Oct. 2001)

Nobel Laureates Declare Support for Divestment from Burma Move at University of Virginia: "Unprecedented" in History of Student Activism - Six Nobel Peace Prize Laureates have written an open letter to the University of Virginia Board of Visitors calling on the administration to divest its holding in Unocal, a California-based oil company. The letter supports a resolution passed by the UVA Student Council last March and a subsequent resolution on September 18th both of which called for the UVA Board of Visitors to divest the University’s 50,000 shares of stock in Unocal on account of the company’s complicity in human rights abuses in Burma. (Free Burma Coalition, 3 Oct. 2001)

• text of a letter signed by six Nobel Peace laureates to the University of Virginia (signed by Jody Williams [USA 1997] Jose Ramos Horta [East Timor 1996], Rigoberta Menchu Tum [Guatemala 1992], His Holiness, The Dalai Llama [Tibet 1989], Oscar Arias [Costa Rica 1986], Betty Williams [Ireland 1976]

Unocal denies misdeeds in Burma: Investors and human rights activists weigh in on controversial University and international issue (Justin Bernick and Ben Sellers, The Cavalier Daily [University of Virginia], 3 Oct. 2001)

Lead Editorial: Convince BOV on Burma - Time is winding down for the Board of Visitors to show University students that their opinions matter. Tomorrow is the final docket meeting to determine the Board's agenda for its next meeting, to be held Oct. 18-20. If Rector John P. Ackerly III declines to place divestment from Burma on the agenda, he risks losing student confidence in the Board's ability to govern the University in a fair and open manner. The resolution Student Council passed last week was not the first time students have asked the Board to discuss divesting the $1.6 million the University has invested in Unocal, a corporation with ties to the abusive Burmese regime. (The Cavalier Daily [University of Virginia], 25 Sep. 2001)

Council approves divestment resolution: Student Council voted unanimously Tuesday in support of a resolution stating continued support for the divestment of University stocks in Unocal, a California-based energy company conducting business in Burma. (Grace Chen, The Cavalier Daily [University of Virginia], 20 Sep. 2001)

UVA Student Council Condemns Oil Company for Ties to Slavery, Urges Board to Act: The University of Virginia Student Council unanimously passed a resolution last night calling for the University to immediately divest its $2 million of stock in Unocal, a California-based energy company. Student Council condemned Unocal for contracting with the Burmese military, an institution that regularly murders, rapes, and enslaves its citizens for infrastructure development projects. (Free Burma Coalition, 19 Sep. 2001)

• text of resolution: Resolution Stating Continued Support for Divestment of Unocal (University of Virginia Student Council, 18 Sep. 2001)

Socially Responsible Shareowner Proposals Continue to Gain Support: The number of social issue proposals receiving at least 10 percent support in the 2001 proxy season outpaces that of recent years. Results are now in for the lion's share of the 140 social policy shareholder proposals that came to vote at U.S. corporate annual meetings this year through June 30. An analysis by the Investor Responsibility Research Center (IRRC) revealed that of the 136 social policy proposals where vote tallies are known, 36 received 10 percent or more support from voting shareowners. Last year, just 25 proposals out of 150 total received more than 10 percent support. (Mark Thomsen, SocialFunds.com, 6 Sep. 2001)

The Power of Protest: Critics Explain How People Can Affect the IMF and World Bank (Multinational Monitor, Sep. 2001):

• An Interview with Neil Watkins [Coordinator of the World Bank Bonds Boycott] (Multinational Monitor, Sep. 2001)

Top Pension Funds Must Raise Their Game: FOE's [Friends of the Earth] survey shows that most funds [UK pension funds] now include socially responsible investment in their investment strategy. But many still put few or no obligations on fund managers to engage actively with the firms in which they invest to ensure ethical standards. And most still have no means for monitoring whether trustees and fund managers are meeting their stated ethical policies. (Friends of the Earth, 5 Aug. 2001)

Canadian Parliament Votes to Give Socially Responsible Shareowner Proposals Equal Billing: New law will limit corporate management’s ability to claim that a proposal “promotes a cause” and therefore should be rejected. (Mark Thomsen, SocialFunds.com, 2 Aug. 2001)

Inside Track - Bewildering choices for investors with consciences: Shares in Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch/Shell Group are on one list but those of British supermarket chain Tesco aren't. And now some protesters at the Group of Eight summit of leading industrial nations say the bonds of the World Bank, despite its loans to poor nations, should join the ranks of investments to be spurned by the ethical speculator. So where should you put your money if you want to ensure it is used to promote environmentally sustainable policies, social development and human rights? (Simon Johnson, Reuters, 23 July 2001) 

BP: a friend of the earth? [regarding FTSE4GOOD]: Jill Insley explains how the oil giant became a 'socially sound' investment: A fund holding shares in oil and pharmaceutical companies is unlikely to meet most people's definition of an environmentally or socially sound investment. So it's not surprising that FTSE4Good, new stock market indices intended to track the prices of socially responsible companies which include BP, Shell, GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca, have attracted heavy criticism. (Jill Insley, Observer [UK], 22 July 2001)

Benchmarking Corporate Environmental and Social Reporting: Recent survey examines the environmental and social reporting practices of the 100 largest global firms. With increasing shareowner interest in the environmental and social performance of their companies, more and more firms are trying to meet demand with increased reporting. While international cooperative efforts such as the Global Reporting Initiative are working to standardize such disclosure, companies can find themselves in uncharted territory in the meantime. A recent survey, "The State of Global Environmental and Social Reporting: The 2001 Benchmark Survey," was conducted to help companies gauge their progress on reporting and identify areas that need improvement. (Mark Thomsen, SocialFunds.com, 12 July 2001)

Exxon global warming boycott gets new push: Green protestors widened their boycott campaign against Exxon Mobil on Wednesday and although analysts said retail sales showed no sign of suffering they warned there might be some damage longer term to the oil giant's famous brand. (Stefano Ambrogi, Reuters, 12 July 2001) 

• company's website: Response Statement On President Bush's CO2 Letter (ExxonMobil, 16 Mar. 2001)

New index [FTSE4Good index] riles campaigners: The launch of a new series of indices for socially responsible investors provoked immediate controversy yesterday, with strong criticism from environmental and human rights campaigners over the inclusion of certain oil and drugs companies, and protests from the CBI [Confederation of British Industries] about the potential damage to those who have failed to make the list. (Geoff Gibbs, Guardian [UK], 11 July 2001)

Companies in new ethical index announced: A third of blue-chip companies have failed to make the grade in a new FTSE index of ethical firms, it was announced today.  Among 34 FTSE-100 Index members not in the new FTSE4Good UK 50 are Tesco, Royal Bank of Scotland and Marconi. (Lisa Bachelor, Guardian [UK], 10 July 2001)

What is FTSE4Good? The FTSE4Good indices: Lisa Bachelor looks at the new global FTSE4Good indices, which have been set up as a global benchmark for socially responsible investors (Lisa Bachelor, Guardian [UK], 10 July 2001)

Footsie takes a walk on the ethical side: Now you can measure how far a quoted business is good business - Tuesday marks a milestone in socially responsible investing: FTSE International, which runs the stock market index, unveils FTSE4Good, an index that will include only companies that qualify as socially responsible. (Heather Connon, The Observer [UK], 8 July 2001)

Book review: Taming the corporation - Anne Simpson says a new book identifies a central obstacle to improving corporate governance but does not offer a full solution - review of The New Global Investors: How Shareowners Can Unlock Sustainable Prosperity Worldwide by Robert A.G. Monks (Anne Simpson, senior specialist in corporate governance at the World Bank and a director of Pensions Investment Research Consultants, in Financial TImes, 4 July 2001) 

ARESE Launches New European Sustainability Index: ARESE, a Paris-based firm that conducts research on corporate social, environmental and sustainability performance, recently announced the introduction of the first of a series of new indexes.  The first index, the ASPI Eurozone, will track the financial performance of companies in the Eurozone that are leaders in sustainability.  ARESE's ratings for corporate sustainability performance are based on five criteria: community and international civil society; corporate governance; customers and suppliers; health, safety and the environment; and human resources and international labor standards. (Mark Thomsen, SocialFunds.com, 3 July 2001)

Americans are Looking for Good Corporate Citizens, But Aren't Finding Them, According to Hill and Knowlton 2001 Corporate Citizen Watch: A survey conducted by Hill and Knowlton through Harris Interactive found that a majority of Americans consider corporate citizenship - the impact a company has on society - when making investment and purchasing decisions. The bad news is that relatively few give companies high marks in this area.  The report provides further support for the proposition that corporate citizenship is becoming increasingly important to U.S. consumers. (press release, Hill and Knowlton, CSR Wire, 3 July 2001)

Corporations Feel Heat on Global Issues; Record Votes in 2001 Annual Meeting Seasons: Shareholders in record numbers want companies to adopt global labor standards to ensure fair, decent working conditions for overseas employees, according to an analysis of 2001 proxy votes by the Investor Responsibility Research Center. (Investor Responsibility Resource Center [IRRC], 29 June 2001)

Funds develop a taste for clean green energy (Stephanie Holmes, Reuters, 26 June 2001)

Companies reject disclosure pleas: ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE: Nearly half the country's largest companies have rejected repeated requests by the government to disclose information about their environmental and social performance, according to a report published today [UK] (Vanessa Houlder, Financial Times, 25 June 2001)

FRIENDS IVORY AND SIME - Socially Responsible Investment - Fund manager Friends Ivory & Sime argues that institutional investors have a responsibility to encourage companies to improve their governance of ethical and environmental issues. Its new Responsible Engagement Overlay [REO] service enables investors to use their influence to encourage positive change...One of REO's most successful engagement programmes in the past year has been on labour standards. (Ethical Performance magazine, summer 2001)

China: Investors warned off Three Gorges bonds - Continuing with their effort to block financing of China's Three Gorges Dam, environmentalists are warning investors that bonds to be sold soon will indirectly finance the mammoth hydropower project that critics say will be a social and environmental disaster. (Inter Press Service, in Asia Times, 2 June 2001)

Exxon shareholders defeat green, gay proposals (Marcus Kabel, Reuters, 31 May 2001)

JUST PENSIONS: Launch of cutting-edge toolkit for trustees and fund managers [providing essential advice on how to improve the impact of pension fund investment on people in the poorest countries in the world] (Just Pensions, 26 May 2001)

Analysts remain sceptical about environmental and social factors: Sustainable development survey shows 'wide degree of uncertainty' - But the survey suggests there has been a step in the right direction, according to BiE [Business in the Environment]. When asked directly about the importance of environment factors in evaluating companies, a third of analysts said that environmental policy was "fairly or very" important, compared with only a fifth of analysts in 1994. The figure for social policy has increased by an even wider margin since 1994, from 12 to 34 per cent. (Vanessa Houlder, Financial Times, 25 May 2001)

Access to affordable medicines dominates GlaxoSmithKline AGM [annual general meeting] (Oxfam, 22 May 2001)

AFL-CIO and ICEM [International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions] Protest Unocal's Burma Joint Venture at Shareholders Meeting - CalPERS Supports Shareholder Resolutions (AFL-CIO and ICEM, 21 May 2001) 

ExxonMobil Feeling Heat on Both Sides of the Atlantic: Shareholder resolutions and boycotts put pressure on oil giant to change its stance on global warming and embrace clean energy (Mark Thomsen, SocialFunds.com, 17 May 2001)

Stock Picker - The latest in green investing - Short "dirties" (Chelsea Emery, Reuters, 16 May 2001) 

Nordstrom Challenged by Domini Social Investments On Sweatshop Issue (Business Wire, 14 May 2001)

Cape [British asbestos company Cape PLC] shamed at AGM [annual general meeting] (ACTSA [Action for South Africa], 10 May 2001)

Citigroup Shareowner Resolutions Yield Mixed Results (Mark Thomsen, SocialFunds.com, 4 May 2001)

Got Clout? Use Your Investor Status to Pressure Companies for Change (Tracey Rembert, emagazine.com [E / The Environmental Magazine] , May-June 2001)

Just Pensions: Socially Responsible Investment and International Development - A Guide for Trustees and Fund Managers (Just Pensions/Traidcraft Exchange/War on Want, May 2001)

Doing It Right: Asia is finally waking up to the reality of socially responsible investing (Yulanda Chung, AsiaWeek.com, 27 Apr. 2001)

FTSE4Good Indices (International Business Leaders Forum, 27 Apr. 2001)

CGNU [Norwich Union] AGM [annual general meeting] targeted by asbestos protestors (ACTSA [Action for South Africa], 24 Apr. 2001)

Calvert Celebrates Environmental Achievement at America's Corporations, Tracking Progress in E-Recycling and Energy Efficiency (E-Wire, 23 Apr. 2001)

Oil companies are destroying my country: From an address given by the Sudanese clergyman Anthony Poggo to the Annual General Meeting of BP Amoco (Independent [UK], 20 Apr. 2001)

BP chief fields barrage of questions on ethics (Andrew Clark, Guardian [UK], 20 Apr. 2001)

U'wa Tribal Chief Sends Message to Shareholders to Divest from Occidental Petroleum and Vows to Continue Resistance against Drilling in Colombia (Amazon Watch, Action Resource Center, and Rainforest Action Network, 20 Apr. 2001)

Significant backing for publication of climate change strategy from BP (PIRC [Pensions Investment Research Consultants], 19 Apr. 2001)

BP Shareholders Voice Support for Tibet by Voting [more than 5% support for resolution] on PetroChina Resolution: Human rights groups to increase pressure on BP to divest from PetroChina (Free Tibet Campaign, 19 Apr. 2001)

Speeches made at the BP AGM on the PetroChina Resolution - 19 April 2001 (Gedun Rinchen, former political prisoner in Tibet; Stephen Kretzmann, Energy & Investment Consultant for the International Campaign for Tibet; Rev. Anthony Poggo from Sudan,19 Apr. 2001)

Shareholders vote against BP on effect of climate change on investments (Greenpeace, 19 Apr. 2001)

Tibetan pipeline row dents BP's new image (Stuart Millar and Terry Macalister, Guardian [UK], 19 Apr. 2001)

The groups objecting to BP's rebranding (Independent [UK], 19 Apr. 2001)

Major UK Fund Manager to Require Environmental Reporting: Institutional investors are increasingly seeing the need for environmental disclosure (Mark Thomsen, SocialFunds.com, 19 Apr. 2001)

Portland Backs Burma Divestment (Burma Action Committee [Portland], 19 Apr. 2001)

BP prepares answers to Tibet protesters' tough questions (John Vidal, Guardian [UK], 18 Apr. 2001)

Student Pressures Grow for divestment in Burma (Tin Maung Htoo, Burma Media Association [Canada Branch], 18 Apr. 2001)

Wal-Mart Booted Out of the Domini 400 [Domini 400 Social Index]: KLD cites lack of leadership on labor controversies among reasons for removal (Mark Thomsen, SocialFunds.com, 17 Apr. 2001)

University of Michigan Students Vote to Pull $20 Million from Burmese Junta (Free Burma Coalition, 17 Apr. 2001)

Statement by EarthRights International at CitiGroup Annual Stockholders Meeting (EarthRights International, 17 Apr. 2001)

Citigroup draws criticism on Myanmar, predatory lending (Cal Mankowski, Reuters, 17 Apr. 2001)

Power to the people in Co-op bank's ethics poll: 2m questionnaires will ask whether repressive regimes, arms trading, animal welfare or genetic engineering are 21st century pariahs (Jill Treanor, Guardian [UK], 17 Apr. 2001)

BP steels itself for protest at AGM over environment (Jeremy Cresswell, The Scotsman [UK], 16 Apr. 2001)

Open letter to Occidental Petroleum's President, Members of the Board of Directors and Shareholders [Colombia] (Asociación de Autoridades Tradicionales U'wa [U'wa people, Colombia], 16 Apr. 2001)

Environmental Groups Endorse Shareholder Resolutions (Mark Thomsen, SocialFunds.com, 12 Apr. 2001)

PIRC backs call for BP climate change strategy and raises concerns over new article changes (PIRC [Pensions Investment Research Consultants], 6 Apr. 2001)

Getting mainstream investors to think about sustainability (Frank Dixon, Managing Director of Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, Earth TImes News Service, 2 Apr. 2001)

Shareholders' Resolution: Reply to BP Directors' Response to Resolution 17 [concerning Tibet and BP's investment in PetroChina] [includes text of BP Directors' Response] (Free Tibet Campaign, International Campaign for Tibet, Milarepa Fund, Students for a Free Tibet, US Tibet Committee, American Anti-Slavery Group, 30 Mar. 2001)

FOE calls for ethical pension information (Friends of the Earth UK, 28 Mar. 2001) 

Council [University of Virginia Student Council] asks to divest stock in Burma: Resolution discourages University investments in companies linked with military rule (Deirdre Erin Murphy, Cavalier Daily [University of Virginia], 28 Mar. 2001)

Greenpeace storms the city [Greenpeace Business Seminar on "Climate Change & the Energy Sector: Investment Implications", held at London Stock Exchange] (SANE BP [Shareholders Against New Oil Exploration], 22 Mar. 2001)

FTSE goes ethical: Craig Mackenzie, director of governance and socially responsible investment at Friends, Ivory and Sime reports on a new initiative. FTSE, the UK’s leading stockmarket index company, is launching a new index, FTSE4Good. The new index will contain companies who do more than most to take account of social responsibility and sustainable development in their businesses. (Craig Mackenzie, in Human Rights & Business Matters, newsletter of Amnesty International UK Business Group, spring/summer 2001)

The City and human rights activists – unlikely bedfellows? Rachel Crossley, senior analyst at Friends Ivory & Sime, focuses on the role of shareholder activism (Rachel Crossley, in Human Rights & Business Matters, newsletter of Amnesty International UK Business Group, spring/summer 2001) [Note: To access this article, scroll down from the "Campaign Update" article...it is underneath]

Campaign Update: ‘Protecting your future – and theirs?’ Some encouraging progress has been made since Amnesty International UK launched an Individual Action in July 2000 targeting Pension Fund Trustees and Fund Managers. (Human Rights & Business Matters, newsletter of Amnesty International UK Business Group, spring/summer 2001)

Balfour Beatty Faces Shareholder Challenge (Friends of the Earth UK, 21 Mar. 2001) 

PetroChina Divestment Resolution will go to the Vote at BP AGM (Free Tibet Campaign, 19 Mar. 2001)

Council [University of Virginia Student Council] asks to divest stock in Burma: Resolution discourages University investments in companies linked with military rule (Deirdre Erin Murphy, Cavalier Daily [University of Virginia], 28 Mar. 2001)

BP Amoco blocks AGM [Annual General Meeting] resolutions on ethical matters (AFX Europe, 2 Mar. 2001)

Canadian NGO policy views on corporate responsibility and corporate accountability: An Overview Paper Prepared for an NGO-Government Meeting, May 2001 (Moira Hutchinson, Mar. 2001)

BP rejection of shareholder resolutions "misjudged, unfair and inconsistent" (PIRC [Pensions Investment Research Consultants], 28 Feb. 2001)

New Association Promotes Social Investing in Asia (SocialFunds.com, 28 Feb. 2001)

Shareholder Resolutions Successful in Changing Employment Policies (SocialFunds.com, 26 Feb. 2001)

BP Amoco Feeling Pressure on PetroChina Holdings: Protests held last week support a shareholder resolution demanding BP Amoco's divestiture from Chinese energy company (SocialFunds.com, 20 Feb. 2001)

Explanation of 1 February 2001 decision to remove Wal-Mart from Domini 400 Social Index (Kinder, Lydenberg, Domini & Co., Feb. 2001)

Major Canadian Retailers Receive Resolutions on Sweatshops: Shareholders ask for verifiable commitment to better working conditions for supplier and subcontractor employees (SocialFunds.com, 29 Jan. 2001)

Unibanco Launches SRI Research in Brazil: SRI reports to provide foreign institutional investors with information on the environmental and social practices of major Brazilian companies (SocialFunds.com, 23 Jan. 2001)

Honey pot: A Singapore investment fund with ethics is helping poor families beat the poverty trap - Unlike many ethical or socially responsible funds, this global-equities vehicle contributes one-third of its annual management fee of 1.5% toward Unifem projects...the United Global Unifem Singapore Fund--invests only in companies whose corporate practices are women- and family-friendly. (Trish Saywell, Far Eastern Economic Review, 11 Jan. 2001)

Asian Mutual Fund Sets New Standard for Promoting Women's Issues (SocialFunds.com, 9 Jan. 2001)

UK pension law amendment requiring pension fund trustees to disclose to what extent they take account of social factors: New regulation opens door to human rights (Business & Human Rights Matters, newsletter of Amnesty International UK Business Group, autumn 2000/winter 2001)

2000:

Future Challenges for Socially Responsible Investing (Amy Domini of Domini Social Investments, speaking at Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility event, 2 Nov. 2000)

Campaign Wants Paper Companies to ‘Come Clean’: A new shareholder campaign for the 2001 proxy season will try to get pulp and paper companies to be more forthcoming about the potential environmental liabilities they face. Bruce Herbert of Newground Investments in Seattle, Wash., is spearheading the campaign, which is expected to target up to a dozen U.S. forest products companies. (Doug Cogan, Investor Responsibility Resource Center [IRRC], Nov. 2000)

Minneapolis City Council Approves Human Rights Policy on Burma: City to Sell-Off Stocks in Corporations Financing Burma's Military Regime, Adopt Ethical Standards on Burma-related Investments (Free Burma Coalition, 13 Oct. 2000)

Burma Activists Target Suzuki Worldwide (Free Burma Coalition, 12 Oct. 2000)

Socially responsible invest funds rising in UK (Nina Mehra, Earth Times News Service, 11 Oct. 2000)

Ethical Funds takes the pulse of socially responsible investors (Ethical Funds Inc., 14 Sep. 2000)

Socially Responsible Investors Sponsor Shanghai Conference on Sweatshops (Verité, Ethical Funds Inc., Calvert Group, Domini Social Investments, Walden Asset Management, 20 July 2000)

Getting corporations serious about social responsibility (Jason Topping Cone, Earth Times News Service, 18 July 2000)

Wall Street Singes the Dragon: PetroChina's Failed IPO (Braden Penhoet, Multinational Monitor, May 2000)

Human rights weigh heavier with investors (Financial Times, 6 Apr. 2000)

Human rights engagement - view from Friends Provident, in Human rights -- is it any of your business? [A management primer] (Amnesty International UK Business Group / Prince of Wales Business Leaders Forum, Apr. 2000)   

EcoJustice Desk report on Talisman: Shareholders Action Alert (EcoJustice, Apr. 2000)

Battle against oppression abroad turns to Wall Street: Religious and human-rights activists target stocks and capital markets to stop a war of 'genocide' in Sudan [refers to Talisman, Petronas, PetroChina] (Jane Lampman, Christian Science Monitor, 3 Mar. 2000)

PIRC to rate companies on social responsibility policies (Pensions Investment Research Consultants [PIRC], 8 Feb. 2000)

The Initial Public Offering of PetroChina: A Report by the AFL-CIO's Office of Investment (PetroChina Watch, AFL-CIO, 2000)

1999:

UN Backs Companies with Pro-Women Social Policies (Thalif Deen, Inter Press Service, 21 Dec. 1999)

Ethical Equities Fund will invest only in companies that are "women-friendly" (United Nations Development Programme, 20 Dec. 1999)

UNIFEM's National Committee in Singapore launches Ethical Equities Fund (UNIFEM Currents, Dec. 1999)

relevant sections of Business and Human Rights in a Time of Change (Christopher Avery, Nov. 1999):

• Chapter 2.11: Shareholder resolutions and annual meetings

• Chapter 2.12: Socially-responsible investment

Socially responsible investment "comes of age" (Pensions Investment Research Consultants [PIRC], July 1999)

Five Years of Victories for the Corporate Social Responsibility Movement (Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, 1999)

1998:

Environmental and Corporate Responsibility at Shell: the shareholder role in promoting change (Pensions Investment Research Consultants [PIRC], Nov. 1998)

AUSTRALIA/PHILIPPINES: Activists Pressure Mining Firm via Shareholders (Sumegha Agarwal, Inter Press Service, 9 Jan. 1998)

Algerian horrors:...The least it [the Algerian Government] can do now is accede to the growing demand, voiced in particular by Mary Robinson, the UN's human rights commissioner, for impartial external investigators to be given full access so that responsibility for the massacres can be established as clearly as possible. The longer it refuses that demand, the more it brings suspicion on itself, and the more uncomfortable investors must feel doing business with the generals in Algiers. (editorial/leader, Financial Times, 5 Jan. 1998)

1997:

How SA [South Africa] made worldwide ethical investment mainstream (Wayne Visser, WOZA, 3 July 1997)