Menus for Change
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Menus for Change: 2006

“Shareholder Action: Moving Corporations toward More Responsible Environmental Practices” - September 21, 2006

At our Menus for Change luncheon on September 21, Conrad MacKerron, Director of As You Sow’s Corporate Social Responsibility program, explained how investors in publicly held companies can instigate positive change through shareholder advocacy.

Through this strategy, shareholders use their financial power and positions on boards of directors to pressure corporations into adopting socially or environmentally responsible policies and practices. Shareholders can effect change by submitting resolutions that establish policies to protect the environment, ensure workers’ rights, or take other socially responsible action.
A former journalist and Washington Bureau Chief for Chemical Week, Mr. MacKerron started As You Sow’s Corporate Social Responsibility program in 1997. He has held dialogs with major corporations and overseen numerous shareholder activism campaigns.

During Menus for Change, he talked about As You Sow’s experiences of working with shareholders to change corporate practices, especially as they relate to environmental stewardship. Some of the resolutions that As You Sow has recently helped present to companies include asking Coca-Cola to set beverage container recovery goals and asking Wal-Mart to review policies related to environmental sustainability.

Mr. MacKerron also described how some boards of directors are incorporating electronics recycling into their management decisions. In the past two years, As You Sow has been encouraging Dell, HP, and Apple to improve their electronics take-back programs.

Lloyd Hicks, INFORM’s electronics recycling expert, discussed state policies on e-waste. He also explained why it is important for public policy and electronics manufacturers to address take-back issues. For example, retired US electronics are often sent to China and Africa, where workers dismantle them in conditions that pose threats to their health. These electronics are sometimes burned, which releases toxins into the air.

Following their presentations, Mr. MacKerron and Mr. Hicks answered questions from the audience, which included representatives from nonprofit organizations, government environmental agencies, local community boards, and the media.

About As You Sow

For nearly 15 years, As You Sow has worked to make corporations more accountable and get them to act in the best interests of the environment. For more information about As You Sow or corporate social responsibility, visit As You Sow.

About Our Host

INFORM would like to thank Linklaters, an international legal consulting firm, for hosting our Menus for Change luncheon at its Manhattan offices on 6th Avenue in New York City.

If you would like more information about one of our Menus for Change events, please contact us at menusforchange@informinc.org.