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SustainableBusiness.com reported recently that a record 109 shareholder resolutions were filed during this year’s proxy season to urge U.S. and Canadian companies to address climate change, fossil fuel usage and related sustainability issues. An additional 48 resolutions were withdrawn after the companies made voluntary commitments to address these issues, according to the report on research conducted by the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility.
The most common sustainability-related topics were natural gas fracking, fossil fuel usage for electric power, water scarcity, oil refinery safety, and sustainability reporting (including climate or greenhouse gas reduction strategies).
Among the examples cited in the report was Walden Asset Management re-filing a resolution with Layne Christensen to push the company to issue a sustainability report. Last year’s resolution on the same topic produced a 60.3 percent vote in favor. This year, Layne Christensen of Mission Woods, Kansas, which provides drilling services for water infrastructure, mineral exploitation and energy, recommended a “FOR” vote on Walden’s resolution, which led to a 92.8 percent vote in favor. The company also published its first sustainability report.
Many so-called experts believe the success of such resolutions, and companies’ willingness to at least entertain the possibility of additional sustainability measures, will embolden the activists to be ever more aggressive. But I’m not convinced. I actually think there is an opportunity here for many well-intentioned, communications-savvy companies to get ahead of the activists, who certainly have other, potentially more contentious issues that they are pursuing through shareholder resolutions.
My sense is that even many mid-sized companies are now acknowledging the potential “shared value” (see this Harvard Business Review article for a discussion of this concept) in proactively addressing sustainability issues at the Board and senior management level without being under the high-profile pressure of a pending shareholder resolution or other “hammer.” Implementation will be smoother and the results will be better.
What the world needs now is another multi-tiered, comprehensive online resource for helping investors and corporate leaders track and manage sustainability, corporate social responsibility, CSR reporting, and socially responsible investing. I actually don’t know anybody who really believes this. The fact is we already have way too much information, too many sites, too many indexes and ratings – and not nearly enough useful, digestible knowledge.
And, yet, the information databases, Web portals and news aggregators continue to proliferate.
The latest entry is SustainabilityHQ™, founded by the New York-based Governance & Accountability Institute, Inc. This new, subscription-based online platform is designed to track the activities and influence of “watchers” such as market players and influencers. Institute Chairman/CEO Hank Boerner said the platform is designed to “help users ‘watch the watchers’ so that both corporate and investment managers can better understand and participate in” investors’ rising expectations about the sustainability, social responsibility and corporate governance of public companies. SustainabilityHQ, formerly known as INSIGHTS-edge™, offers a free trial demo, after which time a site license fee is charged.
In her October 12, 2010 CSRwire column, contributing writer Elaine Cohen offers some good insight into the new service, which has four sections: ESG & Sustainability, U.S. Public Employee Pension Funds, Sovereign Wealth Funds, and Asset Managers.
I can’t go into detail here about other platforms that offer additional, adjacent or redundant information, but here are some you may want to look at: Social Investment Forum, SocialFunds, AccountAbility, Global Reporting Initiative, Dow Jones Sustainability Index, Carbon Disclosure Project, FTSE KLD 400 Social Index, Global Environmental Management Initiative, CSRwire, Calvert Social Index, and so on. And every one of them offers a wealth of information, usually for a membership or subscription fee.
The bottom line is socially responsible investing is big business: accounting for $2.7 trillion in professionally managed U.S. portfolios. Knowing where to invest and what to look for are major challenges; buyer beware! Socially responsible investing information is also big business. And the “buyers” – the providers and consumers of the information – are rightfully wary, confused, concerned and overwhelmed.
Maybe SustainabilityHQ will prove to be the ultimate full-service, easy-to-use solution. Or could it be just one more gas guzzler on the information superhighway? The proof will be in its own sustainability and attraction power because I’m sure “the next big thing” announcement is due out any day now. And then another. And another…
