Corporations have the power to demand more from their suppliers. When this influence is directed properly, corporations can catalyze significant positive change for all stakeholders. This is demonstrated in the continuing evolution of Mexico's avocado industry, where shareholder engagement, political action, NGO efforts, and community organization are helping corporations to address rampant illegal deforestation and its impacts ..read more

A busy proxy season for As You Sow’s Circular Economy program was highlighted by agreements with Hormel Foods to cut packaging use by 10 million pounds by 2030 and establish a new working group on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), and by YUM! Brands, the world’s largest restaurant company, to report on opportunities for switching to permanent reusable packaging ..read more

I’m Sam Gooch, an Alphabet employee, and a Technical Program Manager at Waymo. This shareholder resolution is of the utmost importance as it asks the critical question: how will Alphabet protect its employees’ life savings from the economic consequences of climate change? Climate change poses material risk to retirement plan beneficiaries. A recent report found that Google employees could have made over $1 billion dollars more in returns had Google moved to decarbonize its retirement plan 10 years ago. Almost two thirds of Google’s retirement plan assets are invested in the company's Vanguard ..read more

I’m Kelly McBee with As You Sow moving Item 5, a shareholder proposal regarding a circular economy for packaging. This proposal asks our Company to evaluate extending our responsibility for our packaging beyond the point of sale and through to the packaging’s end-of-life. Some opportunities to achieve this could include using less plastic, exploring reusable and package-free alternatives, and making sure that the disposable packaging we do use is always collected and recycled. Many governments around the world are passing legislation to do just this and are holding companies financially respon ..read more

You’ve probably heard somebody say, “If you like weekends, thank the labor movement." Same goes for the eight-hour workday, minimum wages, breaks, child labor laws, workplace safety, and breaks during work. We have gained so much collectively from the hard-won battles of organized workers. Last week was International Workers' Day, also known as May Day, and As You Sow invites you to join us in celebrating working people and their achievements. Not one of the companies we engage could succeed without the labor of their workers. From cashiers to software engineers, wage workers are the back ..read more

In the 1970’s, when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) started using the Hurricane Wind Scale, the top hurricane with the most destructive power was called “Category 5” as it “represented oblivion.” Such a hurricane with sustained winds of 157 mph had unthinkable destructive power. And yet climate change has shifted our perception, tolerance, and normalization of what was once unthinkable. Michael Wehner, a senior scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, recently suggested the introduction of a “Category 6,” adding a new, terrifying measure to adequately ..read more

The emissions reductions we can achieve over the next decade will make a crucial impact on minimizing the worst dangers of a 1.5°C climate reality. Investors expect companies to develop transition pathways that drastically reduce the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Leading companies are delivering on their commitments to decarbonize their industries, supply chains, and customers. Corporate strategies that rely on offsetting, however, do not contribute to internal decarbonization. Instead, offsetting depends on causing emission reductions outside of the value chain and using ..read more

The world is struggling to keep the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C goal in reach. Pressure on oil and gas companies is reaching an all-time high. Global bodies such like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and International Energy Agency are emphatic about the urgent need for transparent, immediate, and ambitious decarbonization of the oil and gas industry. Despite significant pushback from petrostates and US oil executives, COP28’s final agreement included language about the need to “transition away” from fossil fuels. Unfortunately, the appearance of action is seemingly more important tha ..read more

A quiet forest where there was once ruckus bird sound. Fewer bees in the fields. A monotone, brown landscape where there once was lushness. The loss of biodiversity is the loss of the familiar and erosion of stable ecosystem services that we depend on. As You Sow recently launched a Biodiversity Program in response to increasing global concern about the systemic risks posed by biodiversity loss and looming ecosystem collapse. Biodiversity is the basis for the innumerable ecosystem services that communities, companies, and the world at large depend on – food security, fresh water, clean air, an ..read more

After researching 1,600 public companies, As You Sow statistically linked diversity to financial outperformance. Written By Andrew Behar, As You Sow & Meredith Benton, Whistle Stop Capital Why are Elon Musk and Mark Cuban publicly feuding over workforce diversity? The billionaire beef is part of a larger conversation making headlines on corporate programs meant to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace. Elon claims the programs are “racist” against white men because they result in hiring practices that prioritize optics over “merit.” Mark says the same diversity pr ..read more