Commentary
We are only a few days into 2019, but we already have a front-runner for word of the year: volatility. I know volatility can be a bit unsettling for investors, so I wanted to offer some reassuring thoughts: Remember why you invest with Green Century. You invest to save for your future and to make an impact. The market may be unpredictable but the environmental impact of your Green Century investment remains steadfast.
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Aramark* serves two billion meals a year in schools, hospitals, sports stadiums and more, so the environmental ramifications of Green Century’s recent engagement with the company will be substantial.
Following a meeting in Green Century’s office in Boston, Aramark agreed to develop and fully implement a no-deforestation commitment within six years. Consequently, Green Century withdrew the shareholder resolution it had filed with the company.
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After Green Century filed a shareholder resolution with the company in November, Verizon announced a new commitment to source 50% of its entire electricity usage from renewable energy sources by 2025, a significant increase for one of the country’s largest energy consumers.
Read MoreSustainable, responsible and impact (SRI) investing assets now account for one in four dollars in total assets under professional management in the United States, so it’s no surprise that new SRI investment vehicles have been proliferating. In fact, more than 140 environmental, social, and governance (ESG) funds launched in just the last year.
The sheer number of ESG firms makes it even more impressive that the Green Century Equity Fund recently was named one of the Top 10 Socially Conscious Funds in the U.S. by Bloomberg.
Read MoreAs the year comes to a close, I wanted to share some of Green Century’s 2018 highlights with you. It’s been an eventful and impactful year. Onto the list!
Read MoreMcDonald’s made its meals happier this week by announcing the formal adoption of a policy to restrict medically important antibiotic use in its beef supply chain. McDonald’s will begin by monitoring antibiotic use in its top ten beef sourcing markets across the globe and use that data to set reduction targets for reducing on-farm medically important antibiotic use by the end of 2020.
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Considerable strides have been made in palm oil sustainability in just the past six years. Since Green Century began pressing palm oil growers and traders to make zero-deforestation commitments in 2012, the percentage of refined palm oil covered by these commitments has ballooned from 5% to 74%.
Securing these commitments has been instrumental in the effort to combat climate change, preserve habitats for endangered species, and mitigate potential financial risks for investors.
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I just returned from Indonesia and Malaysia, where I met with palm oil growers, processors, and traders, and with banks that finance the development of palm oil, to press them to end deforestation. As a shareholder advocate, my job is to engage with companies and pressure them to improve their environmental practices.
Green Century’s shareholder advocacy is unique. Our version of shareholder advocacy goes well beyond simply voting the proxies of the corporations in our Funds.
Read MoreThe rampant misuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture is creating drug-resistant bacteria that are harming public…
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Stocks will fluctuate in response to factors that may affect a single company, industry, sector, country, region or the market as a whole and may perform worse than the market. Foreign securities are subject to additional risks such as currency fluctuations, regional economic and political conditions, differences in accounting methods, and other unique risks compared to investing in securities of U.S. issuers. Bonds are subject to risks including interest rate, credit, and inflation. A sustainable investment strategy which incorporates environmental, social and governance criteria may result in lower or higher returns than an investment strategy that does not include such criteria.
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Is ESG Hot Air Contributing to Climate Change?
It was only a matter of time. As more and more financial institutions claim to be green or responsible or sustainable, eventually someone was going to ask them to prove it.
Recently, eight U.S. senators did just that. The senators sent letters to the heads of eleven investment firms, asking how they managed the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks related to tropical deforestation.
Green Century applauds these senators for asking appropriate questions about firms’ deforestation-linked investments. It’s equally important that individual investors start asking tough questions, too.
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