Marcela I. Pinilla
Director of Sustainable Investing

This proxy season we continued our active ownership while also preparing for a more politically charged environment towards social and environmental equity and justice.

As federal agencies’ enforcement abilities are undermined, civil society and market players should be engaged more than ever. Despite the legal challenges and imminent threat from the new administration to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and its national ban of noncompetes, we filed an amicus brief with New York City’s Comptroller and the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), to register our investor view for keeping the ban to enable wage growth and job mobility. Currently, only a few states have banned noncompetes.

APPLAUSE TO COSTCO!

Despite some companies dialing back or altogether scrapping their commitments and initiatives related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), not all are buckling. In response to a shareholder proposal filed by a conservative group, Costco incisively responded that the proposal inflicts “burdens” on companies, not to “address financial risks, but to strike down DEI efforts.” We proactively wrote to The Home Depot, which had been publicly targeted by the far right, to encourage them to remain intentional in building a workplace culture where negative stereotypes against gender, race, or other diversity characteristics do not thrive. The company replied that it intends to continue their activities and implement their policies. As of this writing we are not aware of companies in our client portfolios publicly retreating from their workplace commitments.

Shareholder resolutions filed for the 25 proxy season

Resolution Highlights

Alphabet | Human rights in a digital age

Investors have a fiduciary duty to mitigate severe risks associated with business activities in areas of geopolitical conflict globally. We request disclosure to investors and the public on Alphabet’s due diligence processes for identifying risk embedded in the end use of their products and services and what actions are planned when there is proximity to human rights risks and conflict-affected areas. Tech companies ignore these human rights at the peril of numerous civilians that experience violence and oppression through digital control.

Digital Realty Trust | Water stress impacts and sustainable expansion of Artificial Intelligence

As demand for faster data processing power grows, data center cooling will consume more energy and local water resources, posing risks. For example, up to three sixteen-ounce bottles of water are needed to generate a 100-word email in ChatGPT, a Washington Post investigation found. Our proposal asks the company for disclosure of water-use reduction goals for its data centers located in areas of high-water stress and to engage in community consultation in the process.

Shareholder Resolutions Summary

Letters and Statements

A first step toward correcting injustice in our criminal legal system

As signatories of the Business Leaders’ Declaration Against the Death Penalty, we stand united with more than 300 influential figures from across the global business community in our opposition to capital punishment in all its forms. We joined a letter urging President Biden to fulfill his campaign promise of working to end the death penalty by using his clemency power to commute all federal death sen-tences to a term of life imprisonment. On December 23, 2024, Biden commuted the sentences of thirty-seven individuals on death row.

Protecting our allies is protecting ourselves

 We joined a coalition letter to the House of Representatives opposing the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, H.R. 9495. While the bill was narrowly defeated in December, in large part due to public outcry, if passed in the next administration, it could be used to intimidate and suppress those viewed as political enemies. This would put civil society groups--including Zevin Asset Management allies, and clients--and across the political spectrum at serious risk, as well as negatively impact news outlets, universities and any other tax-exempt organizations.

We close 2024 with reflection, respite, and recovery, and enter 2025 with a fresh resolve to approach our investments with a deeper understanding of the impacts of our actions and seeking opportunities to show up in spaces where democratic processes, civil rights, access and basic needs are going to be in jeopardy.

“Cowardice asks the question, ‘Is it safe?’ Expediency asks the question, ‘Is it politic?’ Vanity asks the question, ‘Is it popular?’ But, conscience asks the question, ‘Is it right?’ And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one’s conscience tells one that it is right”

Martin Luther King Jr.

Thank you for reading and sharing. For more on this work and our broader advocacy, visit our website, and join us on LinkedIn. And please don’t hesitate to contact Marcela Pinilla, Zevin Asset Management’s director of sustainable investing, at marcela@zevin.com with your questions, thoughts, and suggestions.

Disclosures: Registration with the SEC should not be construed as an endorsement or an indicator of investment skill, acumen, or experience. Investments in securities are not insured, protected or guaranteed and may result in loss of income and/or principal. This communication is distributed for informational purposes, and it is not to be construed as an offer, solicitation, recommendation, or endorsement of any particular security, products, or services. Nothing in this communication is intended to be or should be construed as individualized investment advice. All content is of a general nature and solely for educational, informational, and illustrative purposes. Unless stated otherwise, any mention of specific securities or investments is for illustrative purposes only. Adviser’s clients may or may not hold the securities discussed in their portfolios. Adviser makes no representations that any of the securities discussed have been or will be profitable. The listing of organizations or initiatives should not be construed as an endorsement or a recommendation to retain Adviser by these entities. Certified B Corp status is, at least in part, based on responses provided to B Lab by Zevin Asset Management. Zevin Asset Management pays annual membership dues to B Lab, which is a requirement for eligibility in B Lab results. Certified B Corp status requires an assessment of companies’ positive impact on workers, community, customers, and environment (Criteria: https://bcorporation.net/certification/meet-the-requirements).