Boston Common ESG Impact U.S. Equity Fund
Some sustainability-mandated funds actively engage the companies they own. Indeed, efforts by sustainability-focused investors whose funds are found on this site have been crucial to driving positive change in deforestation-risk sectors like palm oil. A number of asset managers are known sustainability engagers, and have taken actions such as filing shareholder resolutions asking for policy changes. Those asset managers deserve special acknowledgement - often, they are using their investments to make sure they have a voice at the table to call for real improvements in company behavior. We used data collected by Ceres to identify asset managers that have filed shareholder resolutions on deforestation, climate change, or other environmental issues. If a fund owns companies we screen for, but the family is a known filer of deforestation or environmental-related shareholder resolutions, it earns a special engagement score. Read more about our deforestation grades.
Boston Common has filed deforestation or other climate-change related shareholder resolutions at Gilead Sciences, Home Depot, JPMorgan Chase, and PNC Financial Services Group. See the resolutions
For the last 10 years, Boston Common has made responsible sourcing including sustainable palm oil, an engagement priority including both the environmental risks such as deforestation and water scarcity and the social risks such as labor practices and land rights. We have also engaged natural resource companies regarding their operations in the Amazon including helping advance the rights of Indigenous Peoples to protect their forests globally. Our engagements include leading a long-term dialogue with Golden Agri-Resources (GAR), the second largest palm oil producer. We focused on GAR’s commitment to end deforestation in supply chain, investments in traceability of certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO) in the value chain, transparency in landownership issues by collaborating with authorities and company efforts to improve yielding practices for smallholders. Other engagements have included financing and adopting sector-specific guidance by bank lenders including HSBC Holdings and responsible sourcing of food commodities with Olam, PepsiCo, Mondelez, Tesco and Unilever. One outcome was that HSBC adopted a standard of RSPO membership for any palm oil producers they finance.
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