Call for votes on climate change

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Call for votes on climate change

Carolyn Said, Chronicle Staff Writer

 

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

 

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Climate-change activists have found an effective way to get corporate America's

attention.

 

They are sponsoring shareholder resolutions asking companies to address global

warming in ways such as issuing reports on how it affects their businesses,

acting to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions or preparing for carbon

regulations.

 

Such resolutions have proliferated. This year, resolutions on global warming are

on the annual meeting agenda at 42 U.S. corporations, according to Ceres, a

Boston network of investors, environmental organizations and other public

interest groups that has spearheaded the issue.

 

On Monday, Ceres and other investors released a " climate watch " list of 10

companies it thinks should strengthen their responses to climate change.

 

The resolutions take a dollars-and-cents approach about climate change's impact.

 

" Most of these resolutions are not saying you should get out of the business of

making cars or generating power, " said Peyton Fleming, a spokesman for Ceres.

 

" They aren't saying we want you to change your business model to become a tree

hugger. As an owner of this company, we're asking (companies) what is their

potential financial exposure and what strategies are they putting in place to

reduce risk from climate change. "

 

While many resolutions are directed at oil companies or utilities, some set

their sights on less-obvious targets, such as big retailers or home builders,

asking them to set energy-efficiency goals, for instance.

 

Some companies targeted by resolutions say they find them unwarranted.

 

A resolution this year sponsored by the Service Employees International Union

and 10 other investors asks Wells Fargo & Co. of San Francisco to formulate

emission-reduction goals for its own operations as well as for its corporate

borrowers and other clients.

 

" We feel that label is not accurate and that we have demonstrated our commitment

to the environment, " said Mary Wenzel, vice president of environmental affairs

at Wells Fargo.

 

She pointed to the bank's ranking by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as

the largest purchaser of green-power energy credits in the United States; its

pledge to lend, invest or otherwise contribute $1 billion to environmentally

beneficial businesses over five years; its 10-point commitment to integrate

environmental goals into its business; and its implementation of energy

conservation and efficiency measures in its operations.

 

Wells Fargo's official response to the shareholder resolution won't be issued

until it publishes its proxy statement in March, Wenzel said. But she disagreed

with the resolution's call for the bank to use global warming as a criterion in

making loans.

 

" We believe setting greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals and requirements

for specific customers is an activity best left to government agencies, " she

said.

 

Tracey Rembert, coordinator of investor and corporate engagement with the

service employees, disagreed.

 

" Where we think Wells Fargo has significant impact facing climate change is on

the lending and financial side, " she said. " We (want them) to set a goal of

greenhouse gas reductions across their client base. We know they can do it

because JPMorgan and Bank of America have set goals to reduce emissions from

clients. "

 

Wells and the union said they are working to set up a meeting on climate change.

Many advocates consider such meetings to be a key signal of success.

 

Resolutions are " our way of knocking on a company's door and saying, 'Hi, we

think you have a problem here' and getting management attention, " said Leslie

Lowe, director of the energy and environment program at the Interfaith Center on

Corporate Responsibility. " More often than not, the resolutions are openers for

a dialogue about a problem. "

 

Climate change resolutions first appeared in the early 1990s, sponsored by

faith-based and socially responsible investors. Global warming was widely seen

as a fringe issue then, but now it has gone mainstream.

 

" What's really changed in the past few years is that a lot of large

institutional investors including CalPERS and CalSTRS (California's pension

funds for public employees and teachers) have started to weigh in on this

issue, " said Ceres' Fleming. " Because they are significantly larger investors

than religious or social investors, that has helped to drive up the support for

the resolutions. "

 

Global warming resolutions now get 10 percent or more " yea " votes at many

companies. While that sounds paltry, within the world of proxy elections, that

qualifies as significant.

 

For instance, last year a proposal asking homebuilder Standard Pacific Corp. of

Irvine to report on energy-efficiency plans won support from 39.3 percent of

outstanding shares, according to Institutional Shareholder Services. For a

company with $1.8 billion in market value, a lot of money backed the proposal.

 

Unlike referendums in a general election, shareholder resolutions rarely get a

majority of votes because much of the stock is controlled by the company.

 

" Anytime a proposal gets well over 10 percent support, I think of that as a

strong signal to management, " said Meg Voorhes, director of social-issues

services at Institutional Shareholder Services. " It starts to be an incentive to

companies to meet with proponents and see if there can be a meeting of the

minds. "

 

 

 

--

Resolutions

Here's a sample of global warming resolutions coming up at corporate annual

meetings in 2007:

 

Banking: Wells Fargo

 

Electric power: TXU, Dominion Resources and Allegheny Energy

 

Insurance: ACE

 

Oil and gas: Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips

 

Retail: Bed Bath & Beyond

 

For more information, go online to www.incr.com, www.ceres.org and www.iccr.org.

 

Source: Investor Network on Climate Risk (Ceres)

 

E-mail Carolyn Said at csaid.

 

 

 

" Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies

in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are

cold and are not clothed. "

-- Dwight Eisenhower