Green Century’s shareholder advocacy program has had a positive impact on the environmental practices of dozens of companies over the course of 35 years. We’ve worked on issues ranging from recycling to forest protection to clean energy to sustainable agriculture and more.
As our shareholders know, Green Century offers environmentally conscious investors a unique three-part value proposition: we steer investments away from harmful environmental companies, including fossil fuel companies; we’re owned by nonprofit organizations and invest any profits into environmental action and advocacy; and, through our investments, we put our power as shareholders to work, leveraging corporate commitments to improve environmental practices.
As Green Century has grown over the past 35 years, so too has our shareholder program. Our shareholder advocates are engaging with more companies on more issues. And they’re adapting our program and approach as new environmental challenges emerge and corporate practices and priorities evolve.
Positive changes and commitments
Here are just a few highlights of the changes and commitments made in response to Green Century’s shareholder advocacy and action:
● In 1993, PepsiCo agreed to reduce its lobbying against state bottle bills, beverage container deposit laws that reduced litter and increased recycling.
● In 1995, PepsiCo committed to replace plastic disposable shipping cartons with reusable packaging.
● In 2006, Whole Foods became the first retailer in the United States to stop selling baby bottles made with BPA.
● In 2014, Kellogg’s pledged to use only deforestation-free palm oil in its products.
● In 2024, Costco agreed to disclose its plastic packaging footprint for its “Kirkland Signature” brand products and to create a five-year plastic action plan.
Once a company pledges to take action, Green Century’s shareholder advocates follow through to make sure those commitments lead to change. Among the companies that have achieved concrete progress in response to our advocacy are:
● Verizon, which cut 2.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions – the equivalent of taking about 500,000 cars off the road each year – after pledging to source 50% of its electricity from green, renewable energy sources.
● Jack in the Box, which met its interim target to source 25% of its pork from pigs raised in “open pen” environments rather than gestation crates, which are so small that pregnant sows cannot turn around.
● Mattel, which achieved an 11.6% reduction in its plastic packaging in three years, after announcing a goal to reduce plastic packaging by 25% by 2030.
In just the last five years, Green Century has secured 92 new corporate policy commitments, including from Bank of America, McDonald’s and Microsoft. Over the last three years, Green Century has filed more environmental shareholder resolutions than any other financial institution. In this year alone, Green Century has met with more than 60 companies, filed 26 shareholder proposals, and reached 15 agreements with companies pledging to take actions to protect the environment.
Shareholder Advocacy Successes Over the Years
While it’s impossible to directly credit shareholder advocacy, it’s also true that positive changes have occurred within many corporations.
In 1991, when Green Century started, relatively few companies had executives managing their environmental programs. Meetings with investors were handled by community relations staff or a safety manager. In the 1990s, we met with PepsiCo’s “manager of compliance.”
Today, many large companies employ a chief sustainability officer who reports directly to the board of directors, as well as teams of people managing the environmental impact of their supply chain and the greenhouse gas emissions of their operations. Executives and even Fortune 500 company presidents have met directly with Green Century’s shareholder advocates.
What a difference in the past 3.5 decades
In 1991, few external standards existed to measure corporate sustainability performance. Today, Green Century advocates can point to the Global Reporting Initiative (1999), the UN Principles for Responsible Investing (2006) and the Science Based Targets initiative (2015). Green Century has continued to push forward as the world around us began recognizing the importance of our environmental messages.
As Green Century adapts and evolves to meet the challenges to come, the core principles guiding our shareholder advocacy remain the same: Investors should be able to align their investments with their environmental values. And corporations have a responsibility to ensure that doing business doesn’t come at the price of a livable planet.