Plastics: An effort to get companies to increase their reporting and better manage plastics production that began last year continues, at an expanded list of companies. The proponents are As You Sow and Trillium Asset Management.
• At Huntsman, Occidental Petroleum, Westlake Chemical, the proposal requests a report on plastic pollution that would “disclose trends in the amount of pellets, powder or granules released to the environment by the company annually, and concisely assess the effectiveness of the company’s policies and actions to reduce the volume of the company’s plastic materials contaminating the environment.” It remains pending at Occidental and Westlake.
THE BEVERAGE RECYCLING CONUNDRUM
MARY JANE MCQUILLEN
Head of Environmental, Social and Governance Investment, ClearBridge Investments
HUMPHREY OLENG
Director, Senior Research Analyst for Materials, ClearBridge Investments
The beverage container touches many industries, upstream and downstream, and presents logistical and environmental challenges at each step. ClearBridge takes a life cycle approach to the beverage container’s challenges, finding that there are several entry points for action that can reduce environmental impact.
At Republic Services the pending request is for an explanation of how it “can increase the scale and pace of its efforts to increase plastics recovery and recycling to address environmental problems caused by plastic pollution.”
Plastic bags are the concern at Walmart, where the proposal asks for a report “assessing the environmental impacts of continuing to use single-use plastic shopping bags.”
Withdrawals—Trillium Asset Management withdrew a resolution similar to the one at Republic Services, adding that it wanted information on “constructive” support for “public policy and industry solutions.” The group reached agreements at Sonoco Products and Waste Management, which will expand its reporting to include a nationwide analysis of the generation of and demand for recyclable plastic material, a report on the efficiency of the company’s recycling facilities, and an updated public policy discussion.
STARBUCKS SIGNALS HISTORIC SHIFT FROM SINGLE-USE CUPS AND PLASTICS TO REUSABLE PACKAGING
CONRAD MACKERRON
Senior Vice President, As You Sow
An estimated eight million tons of plastics are swept into oceans annually. Plastic beverage containers are among the most common items found in beach cleanups. In 2008, Starbucks pledged that, by 2015, it would serve 25 percent of beverages in reusable containers like ceramic mugs. Ten years later, the company had little to show for its efforts, with less than 2 percent of beverages served in reusable cups.
SEC action—Huntsman successfully challenged the proposal at the SEC, which agreed the proponent failed to substantiate stock ownership.
Packaging: Other resolutions also concerned with plastics more specifically address packaging.
Pending—A seventh-year resubmission at Kroger asks for a report on an assessment of “the environmental impacts of continuing to use unrecyclable brand packaging.” Similar resolutions earned 38.9 percent in 2019 and 29.4 percent in 2018. At Yum, where As You Sow has a long history, a resubmitted proposal that earned 33.6 percent last year asks for a report “detailing efforts to achieve environmental leadership through a comprehensive policy on sustainable packaging.”
Withdrawals—Trillium Asset withdrew a request to CVS to report on “discussing if, and how, it can further reduce its environmental impacts by increasing the scale and pace of its sustainable plastic packaging initiatives.” The company will identify the amount and types of plastic used in its packaging, as well as their recyclability. CVS also is collaborating with industry partners to address various aspects of the plastic pollution problem. Further, Starbucks agreed to take further action on plastics, having been asked to report on cutting its environmental impact “stepping up the scale and pace of its sustainable packaging initiatives.” Similar proposals earned 44.5 percent support in 2019 and 29 percent in 2018.
Food: JLens is back at Amazon.com seeking an annual report “on the environmental and social impacts of food waste generated from the company’s operations given the significant impact that food waste has on societal risk from climate change and hunger.” It earned 25.9 percent last year. The resolution draws a connection between food waste, reducing GHG emissions and providing food redistribution options; it survived an SEC challenge last year.
Chemical footprint: Trillium has a new proposal to TJX, asking for a report on “describing if, and how, it plans to reduce its chemical footprint.” The body of the proposal discusses “the costs of environment chemical exposure to the health of the global economy” and references a 2017 report that suggests such exposures “likely exceed 10 percent of global GDP or 11 trillion dollars.” It goes on to delineate serious harms, notes new restriction on hazardous materials and asserts that toxic chemicals “present systemic portfolio risks to investors.” Trillium claims competitors such as Walmart, Target and Dollar Tree have set public goals on the subject, but that TJX has not. It wants to see a new policy, lists of priority chemicals, more effort to identify chemicals and mitigate risks and investment in “safer alternatives.”
A LIGHTER CHEMICAL FOOTPRINT SOUGHT FOR CONSUMER GOODS, HEALTH CARE, TECHNOLOGY SECTORS
MARK S. ROSSI
Executive Director, Clean Production Action
ALEXANDRA MCPHERSON
Consulting Program Manager, Investor Environmental Health Network
Materiality of chemicals in products is well established in the Sustainable Accounting Standard Board’s (SASB) standards for Consumer Goods, Health Care, and Technology & Communications. These standards reflect rising demand from consumers and institutional purchasers for safer products and growing evidence of the harmful effects of toxic chemicals, including a peer-reviewed study showing that toxic chemicals cost the world 10 percent of annual global gross domestic product, $11 trillion a year in disease burdens. Yet companies in these sectors have been slow to assess and reduce the chemical footprint of their products.