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Corporate Social Responsibility
News
3.06.2006 ET
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Investors Persuade Big-Box Retailers and Shopping Mall Giant to Disclose Energy Efficiency and Climate-Related Performance
(CSRwire) BOSTON - In response to shareholder requests, two leading big-box
retailers and the nation's largest shopping mall company have agreed to
significantly expand reporting and disclosure on energy efficiency
performance, with the two big-box retailers also agreeing to discuss
greenhouse gas emissions.
Investors persuaded The Home Depot in Atlanta, GA, Lowe's in North
Wilkesboro, NC and the Simon Property Group in Indianapolis, IN to
disclose their strategies and performance on energy efficiency and
climate-related topics. The three companies collectively manage more than
500 million square feet of building space and are especially vulnerable to
energy costs for heating, cooling and lighting their buildings.
Investors requested the reports through shareholder resolutions filed with
the companies last fall. While those resolutions were withdrawn over the
past few weeks, similar requests have been filed and are still pending
with Liberty Property Trust (NYSE: LRY), Centex Corp. (NYSE:
CTX), Standard Pacific (NYSE: SPF), Bed Bath and Beyond
(NYSE: BBBY) and Whole Foods (NYSE: WFMI).
"Both Lowe's and The Home Depot deserve credit for agreeing to expand
their reporting to shareholders on energy efficiency and greenhouse gas
emissions," said Lance E. Lindblom, president and chief executive officer
of the Nathan Cummings Foundation, which filed the shareholder resolutions
with Lowe's, The Home Depot and a half-dozen other companies. "As concerns
about rising energy prices and climate change continue to increase, we
believe the focus on energy efficiency will intensify. Companies, such as
The Home Depot, that think strategically about these issues will be better
positioned financially in the years ahead."
The Nathan Cummings Foundation was joined in filing the resolutions by
several religious investment funds that are part of the Interfaith Center
on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), a group of over 200 religious
investment funds, many of which are actively involved in filing global
warming shareholder resolutions. Catholic Healthcare West co-filed the
resolutions with The Home Depot and Lowe's, while the Benedictine Sisters
co-filed only with The Home Depot.
The Home Depot and Lowe's have agreed to disclose information relating to
the following:
Green/renewable power consumption
Specific information on kWh of solar power generated by the
companies
Company policies on energy efficiency
Companies' integrated energy management systems
Facility operation and maintenance programs as they relate to energy
efficiency
Company views on GHG emissions
The Home Depot also agreed to discuss the following:
How energy efficiency measures impact its bottom line
Targets for renewable energy usage
Targets for reducing GHG emissions or emissions intensity
Climate change and its possible implications for the company's
operations
The New England Yearly Meeting of Friends Pooled Funds (Quaker) and the
Sierra Club Mutual Funds filed a similar energy efficiency resolution with
Whole Foods. The resolution focuses entirely on the company's energy
efficiency programs and performance, and does not relate to its recent
announcement to purchase 100 percent wind-generated power for all of its
North American stores.
"Whole Foods has taken an important leadership position in purchasing
renewable wind energy, but is still missing a significant opportunity to
bolster its bottom line through improved energy efficiency," said Mark
Orlowski, board member of the New England Yearly Meeting of Friends Pooled
Funds, expressing his disappointment in the company's failure to respond
positively to the shareholder resolution.
The companies are among more than two-dozen U.S. businesses - including
seven electric power companies, four oil and gas companies, six real
estate firms, four big-box retailers, two insurance companies, two banks
and one auto company - with whom investors filed global warming
shareholder resolutions as part of the 2006 proxy season.
The resolutions are part of growing effort by leading U.S. investors
seeking more disclosure and action from U.S. companies on the risks and
opportunities they face from climate change. The investors include many of
the nation's largest city, state and private pension funds, as well as
labor, foundation, religious and other institutional investors. Many of
the investors are part of the $3 trillion Investor Network on Climate
Risk, an alliance of more than 50 institutional investors directed by
Ceres.
"More investors than ever before are recognizing that climate change is a
serious business issue and are demanding answers from companies on their
strategies for dealing with it," said Mindy S. Lubber, president of Ceres,
an investor coalition that helped coordinate the shareholder resolution
filings.
This year's filings come on the heels of record-high voting support for
global warming resolutions in the 2004 and 2005 proxy seasons. Investors
achieved 28 percent voting support on a resolution with ExxonMobil in 2005
- the highest support level on a climate-related resolution at the company.
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