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Calvert Publishes Sustainability Report

Calvert Publishes Sustainability Report

Published 01-12-05

Submitted by Calvert

BETHESDA, MD - Calvert, the nation's largest family of socially responsible mutual funds, today published its first Sustainability Report using Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines. The 50-page report detailing Calvert's economic, social and environmental performance is available on the firm's website (www.calvert.com).

"For years, Calvert has advocated greater disclosure and transparency on the part of the companies we invest in. We believe social and environmental disclosure is not only relevant but highly material to investors," says Barbara J. Krumsiek, President and CEO of Calvert. "We therefore felt it was important to report to Calvert's shareholders and other stakeholders on how we are discharging our own social and environmental responsibilities."

Calvert's Sustainability Report follows reporting guidelines developed by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), an independent institution whose mission is to develop uniform Sustainability Reporting Guidelines for voluntary use by corporations and other organizations reporting on their economic, environmental, and social performance. Calvert is the first US-based socially responsible mutual fund firm and one of only a small number of US-based financial services companies to publish a Sustainability Report following the Guidelines. (A list of organizations reporting under the GRI Guidelines is available at www.globalreporting.org.)

The Calvert Sustainability Report attempts to integrate the GRI Guidelines with the company's own social and environmental criteria, which it uses in researching corporate performance for its own portfolio selection purposes. The report focuses on Calvert's performance in seven issue areas: (1) corporate governance and business ethics; (2) workplace issues; (3) environment; (4) product safety and impact; (5) international operations and human rights; (6) Indigenous Peoples' rights; and (7) community relations. These correspond to the seven issue areas that Calvert researches when analyzing corporate performance for its own mutual fund portfolios. The Calvert Sustainability Report constitutes the company's first systematic attempt to use those screens in assessing its own social and environmental performance.

"As so much of our business involves assessing the social and environmental performance of others, it was a natural progression for Calvert to turn the mirror on ourselves," says Ms. Krumsiek. "We hope it enables our shareholders, clients and other stakeholders to learn more about how we conduct our business and how we measure our progress towards corporate social responsibility and sustainability. We also hope that it encourages other companies - in our sector and beyond - to rise to the challenge of transparency and sustainability reporting."

Calvert is one of the nation's largest socially responsible mutual fund firms with approximately $10 billion in total assets under management. Best known for its family of socially responsible mutual funds, Calvert offers twenty-nine portfolios that allow individual and institutional investors to pursue a broad range of investment objectives within a single fund family. Calvert launched the Calvert Social Index, a benchmark for measuring the performance of large, U.S.-based socially responsible companies. Calvert also has an extensive lineup of tax-free and taxable fixed income investments.

For more information on any Calvert fund, please contact Calvert at 800.368.2748 for a free prospectus. An investor should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of an investment carefully before investing. The prospectus contains this and other information. Read it carefully before you invest or send money.

Calvert mutual funds are underwritten and distributed by Calvert Distributors Inc., member NASD, a subsidiary of Calvert Group. (12/04, 5314)

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Calvert

Calvert

Calvert, a leader in sustainable and responsible investing, headquartered in suburban Washington, D.C., has, since our founding in 1976, set industry standards for asset management excellence - in both the way we select companies for our portfolios and how we serve our clients' interests. Our investment approach emphasizes rigorous fundamental research that goes beyond traditional measures to uncover companies with long-term value. Through proven investment management, attentive customer service, an innovative family of investment products, and strong marketing capabilities, Calvert serves individual and institutional investors nationwide as well as professional financial advisors

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