by Claude Solnik
Published: October 3, 2011

It looks like a few firms have agreed to open the books on their political donations, a year after the Supreme Court unceremoniously closed the door on once strict limits to contributions.

A trio of Fortune 500 companies whose stock is held by the New York State Common Retirement Fund have agreed to disclose their political campaign contributions and procedures, after requests from New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

DiNapoli said Marriott International, Yum Brands (parent of Pizza Hut and Taco Bell) and Limited Brands(parent of Henri Bendel and Victoria’s Secret), whose stock is held by the state’s $146.9 billion retirement fund, agreed to disclose contributions to political campaigns and advocacy groups and outline their approval process for political contributions.

The comptroller and the Center for Political Accountability began a push last year for greater disclosure after the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision opened the doors to big corporate contributions.

“There’s cause for concern when corporations make it their business to finance campaigns,” DiNapoli said. “Now we’re asking corporations to do the responsible thing for their shareholders and for the public. These three companies have heeded the call.”

After finding that about 70 of the S&P 500 companies had public policies regarding disclosing political donations, the comptroller and the center sent out letters requesting information from the remaining firms.

“We engaged with these companies. Some came forward and said we’ll work with you,” said Eric Sumberg, a spokesman for the comptroller. “We proposed shareholder resolutions at some.”

The retirement fund filed nine shareholder resolutions, leading to agreements with these three firms during the proxy season.

The New York State Common Retirement Fund as of Sept. 16 owned nearly $150 million combined in these firms’ shares including 1.6 million shares of Yum Brands worth $86.2 million; 873,292 shares of Limited Brands worth $35.2 million and 938,109 shares of Marriott International worth $27.4 million.

DiNapoli said he’s continuing to push for disclosure of corporate contributions as a way of monitoring spending of firms whose shares are held by the state an their interaction with the political process.

“Proxy season is in the spring,” Sumberg said. “Over the next couple of months, we’ll look at which companies to engage with the next season. Hopefully, we’ll have more successful engagements.”

WASHINGTON, D.C., Sep. 01 /CSRwire/ - Two leading sustainable business organizations representing 5,000 small businesses today sent a letter calling on President Obama to reject the controversial Keystone XL pipeline and, instead, invest in clean energy technologies.  

The pipeline would deliver oil from the tar sands in Canada to the Gulf of Mexico across the United States.

In their letter, Green America’s Green Business Network and The Green Chamber of Commercesaid the pipeline would further United States addiction to oil and risk disastrous new oil spills in rivers and the Ogallala aquifer. Global warming and oil spills have been seen to have an extremely detrimental effect on the economy, which affects the well-being of their businesses.

In addition to these risks, production of the 700,000 barrels of heavy crude that would travel from the tar sands every day creates a tremendous amount of greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. Both the potential for environmentally harmful oils spills and increase in GHG emissions would be harmful to the environment, in addition to the harm to business in the United States.

The text of the letter to President Obama follows:

“We write to you on behalf of thousands of small businesses in the United States that are deeply concerned about the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. The well-being of our businesses and the economy in the United States are tied to the health of our environment. The Keystone XL pipeline will have an immensely negative impact on the environment. It would bring 700,000 barrels of heavy crude from Canadian tar sands to the US every day, furthering the US addiction to oil, and risking new oil spills in rivers and the Ogallala aquifer. The production of oil from tar sands would generate enormous greenhouse gas emissions, and create greater impacts from global warming.

The impacts of global warming -- from droughts, to floods, to extreme weather -- are bad for business in the United States. As we saw in the Gulf, oil spills also have a devastating impact on the economy. The failure to shift America away from its dependence on oil to cleaner fuels will further imperil our economy and reduce the number of green jobs we need for sustainable economic growth.

Your administration has taken bold and necessary steps to increase the green energy economy in the US. Now, we urge you to reject the Keystone XL pipeline, and further invest in clean energy technologies. It is the right decision for the US, and it is the right decision for business.”

Nestlé Waters North America, PepsiCo and the Coca-Cola Company have all received a “B-” letter grade for their recycling efforts in a new report, which criticized the beverage industry’s pace in improving recycling.

“Waste & Opportunity: U.S. Beverage Container Recycling Scorecard and Report” by As You Sow is the shareholder advocacy group’s third review of the beverage industry since 2006.

The report gave Nestlé Waters North America the highest rank out of the major companies. In particular, the firm received the highest score on container recovery for establishing better recovery goals than its peers and having stated tactical strategies for attaining those goals, the report said.

As You Sow said the beverage industry has made slow progress on recycling since the last edition of the report in 2008. But the 2011 report does contain some signs that the industry may increase its commitments to recycling soon.

The Coca-Cola Company, which As You Says has been historically opposed to container deposit systems, indicated it is now “neutral” on a deposit system administered by an independent third party, an apparent softening of its position, according to the advocacy group.

Several survey respondents also said that in developing a recycling program, they are most likely to support programs that set recycling fees that are paid by producers or importers, included in the price of the product and administered by industry.

However, brewing companies were largely absent from the survey participants, with Anheuser Busch refusing to participate. As You Grow says this suggests the company’s transparency policies are getting worse. The firm received the second highest score in the report’s 2008 edition.

Results of NewReport Showing Economic Benefits of Strong MPG

Strong fuel efficiency/GHG standards would create nearly 700,000 jobsnationwide, including 63,000 jobs in auto sector; Consumers would save $152billion at the pump

BOSTON – As President Obama announces the nextround of a coordinated national program to improve fuel efficiency for model year2017-2025 cars and light-duty trucks, Ceres, a national coalition ofinvestors and public-interest organizations, today released “More Jobs PerGallon,” an economic analysis by the independent firm Management InformationServices, Inc. that quantifies what stronger fuel economy/GHG standards wouldmean for the U.S. economy.  

“We commend the Obama Administration on today’s importantstep to boost fuel economy and reduce vehicle emissions, which will createjobs, drive innovation, save consumers money and reduce our dependence onforeign oil,” said Mindy S. Lubber, president of Ceres. “Our report makes clearthat the stronger the standards, the greater the economic benefits, and we urgethe Administration to ensure a strong national program.”

Ceres’ new report, available at www.ceres.org, evaluated different regulatoryscenarios under consideration for CAFE mileage and GHG emissions improvements –specifically, improvements of three, four, five and six percent per year for modelyears 2017-25.

Among the report’s key findings:

·     The sixpercent scenario (roughly 60 MPG) would generate an estimated $152 billion infuel savings for consumers in 2030 compared to business as usual. Of the$152 billion saved at the pump, $59 billion would be expected to be spent inthe auto industry as drivers purchase cleaner, more efficient vehicles. Theremaining $93 billion will be spent across the rest of the economy, boostingconsumers’ discretionary income for everything from retail purchases to restauranttrips to increased spending on health care.

·     Nearly700,000 new full time jobs would be created under the six percent scenario, compared to only about 350,000 jobsunder the three percent (roughly 47 MPG) scenario.

·     63,000new, full-time domestic auto industry jobs would be created in 2030 under thesix percent scenario; more than double the 31,000 jobs under the threepercent scenario.

·     Statesseeing the biggest gains in terms of relative impact on their job markets alsohave some of the largest auto industry sectors.  Again, job growth would be significantly higher underthe six percent scenario.  The top12 states in terms of percentage job increases include Indiana, Michigan,Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Vermont, Oregon,New York and Missouri.

·     Net jobsgains in 49 states, and greatest job gains under strongest standards. Eachof the four regulatory scenarios analyzed would bring substantial economic andjob benefits for the U.S. economy in 2030.

·     Effectson state GDPs would be overwhelmingly positive. States seeing the biggestpercentage GDP gains under the strongest fuel efficiency standard have largeauto industry sectors. The biggest gainers would be Michigan and Indiana,followed by Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio, Alabamaand Oregon. Comparedto the three percent scenario, the six percent scenario would bring 382,000more jobs, a $15.7 billion increase in gross economic output (sales), $10.3billion more in personal income, and $9.5 billon more in tax revenue for cash strappedfederal, state and local governments.

For more details and to read the full report, visit: www.ceres.org/more-jobs-per-gallon

As You Sow, a group that seeks corporate accountability through shareholder advocacy, has announced the results of some its recent campaigns.

Among the large companies AYS filed resolutions with was Target. The resolution requested that the retail giant expand electronics recycling for its customers and disclose information on its disposal policies, including whether or not it exports e-waste to developing countries. The resolution failed, but mustered an impressive 30.8 percent of the company's investors.

AYS also filed a resolution calling on McDonald's to stop using polystyrene coffee cups, which got 29.3 percent support. A third resolution asking Starbucks to develop a more comprehensive recycling scheme for its beverage containers got 8.1 percent. Specifically, the resolution urged Starbucks to set more concrete goals for the use of recycled content in its containers and to better track how many customers bring reusable mugs into its stores.

In the past, AYS has persuaded Coca-Cola and PepsiCo to recycle 50 percent of their bottles and cans by 2015 and 2018 respectively. It's also gotten Nestle Waters NA to agree to an industry recycling goal of 60 percent of PET bottles by 2018.

AYS also filed a resolution with Proctor & Gamble and General Mills in support of extended producer responsibility, which will be voted on in October.