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The
Ethical Funds Company has released its Shareholder Action Program
Focus List for 2006 – a list of themes and companies the company
will engage next year in order to help improve environmental, social
and governance performance among publicly-traded corporations in
Canada and the United States.
“By
using the tools of shareholder action, The Ethical Funds Company
enters into structured dialogues with companies alerting directors
and managers to new concerns, new risks and proposing new solutions
to the tough challenges they face,” says Bob Walker, Vice
President of Sustainability at The Ethical Funds Company. “Our
objective is to see companies advance long term wealth creation in
support of a more just and sustainable world.”
Each
year The Ethical Funds Company identifies major areas of concerns,
or ‘themes’, around which their Shareholder Action Program will
centre. The major themes for 2006 are:
Climate
Change
Global
climate change has emerged as the most significant environmental
threat in the world today. To stop climate change, The Ethical Funds
Company is asking US-based oil and gas companies to measure their
greenhouse gas emissions and disclose action plans to reduce
emissions. The Ethical Funds Company is also asking Canada’s major
banks to set new climate change lending policies in the belief that
bank clients will put more effort into reducing greenhouse gas
emissions if their financiers are asking them hard questions about
reductions targets and action plans to meet those targets.
Biodiversity
New
reports have emerged concluding that biodiversity and ecosystems
around the world are in severe decline. To
ensure that companies work toward protecting biodiversity worldwide,
The Ethical Funds Company is asking resource companies to
integrate biodiversity conservation into environmental management
systems, social impact assessments and site selection. Financial
institutions are also being asked to establish biodiversity
protection policies for all corporate finance activities. A
specific focus for 2006 will be to build support for the Canadian
Boreal Initiative (CBI), a multi-stakeholder organization
created to save Canada’s boreal region, one of the world’s
largest remaining intact forest ecosystems.
Genetically Modified Products
The
Ethical Funds Company is concerned that genetically modified
products have been introduced to the marketplace without due regard
for human health or the environment. The Ethical Funds Company is
asking companies to refrain from placing genetically modified food
products on the market until proven safe and to support the
consumers’ right to know what is contained in the food they are
eating through better food labeling.
Environmental
Justice
In
many cases, disadvantaged communities bear the environmental brunt
of resource extraction and industrial activity without enjoying the
benefits. In 2006, The Ethical Funds Company wants companies to find
more effective ways to mitigate negative impacts and maximize the
benefits they can bring to communities.
Human
Rights
Following
from the White Paper published in June 2005, Canadian Energy and
Mining Companies: Navigating International Humanitarian Law in the
21st Century, (available on the The Ethical Funds
Company website at www.ethicalfunds.com
, The Ethical Funds Company is asking companies to adopt a full
suite of policies and management systems designed to advance
international human rights standards. The Ethical Funds Company is
also advancing the Electronics Industry Code of Conduct to ensure
that international labour standards and health and safety procedures
are followed at the developing country factories where electronics
components are manufactured.
War
on AIDS
HIV/AIDS
is the greatest health crisis the world faces today. In the White
Paper, Canadian Energy and Mining Companies and the HIV/AIDS
Epidemic: Bridging the Chasm, The Ethical Funds Company
described the nature and extent of the challenge and offered a set
of procedures companies should follow to win the war on AIDS. The
Ethical Funds Company is now advancing these procedures through
their Shareholder Action Program.
Executive
Compensation and Sustainability
To
ensure companies build long-term and are sustainable for all
stakeholders, The Ethical Funds Company is asking all companies
listed on the TSX Composite Index to incorporate sustainability
performance criteria into executive compensation policies and
provide transparent links between pay and the achievement of
long-term environmental, social and governance goals.
For
more information, visit Shareholder
Action
Program Focus List.
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