Ceres News

The rapidly changing climate, a global water crisis, and profound and ongoing human rights abuses undermine not only business operations, but also the lives and livelihoods of employees, customers and stakeholders. Investors—both large and small—are ramping up sustainable investment strategies focused on environmental, social and governance issues. In the United States alone, sustainable investing grew […]

Investors make key announcements on low-carbon commitments; release new investor agenda to accelerate and scale up action on climate change February 2, 2018 /3BL Media/ – More than 450 investor, company and capital market leaders convened at the Investor Summit on Climate Risk today to map out the next steps for increased action on climate change. The […]

Investors, Ceres BICEP Network release ads and letters October 5, 2017 /3BL Media/ – Today, 36 institutional investors with over $813 billion in assets and a network of major businesses with over $400 billion in revenue, called on the Trump administration to not weaken the current light-duty vehicle fuel economy and greenhouse-gas emissions standards. The ask […]

  “Most severe attack on shareholder rights in 50 years,” says one investor; new investor research paper outlines wide-ranging benefits of shareholder proxy tool April 24, 2017 /3BL Media/ – Many of the country’s largest investors are coming out strongly against proposed legislation that would prevent most investors from being able to file shareholder proposals with companies […]

Walking beneath the iconic columns of the New York Stock Exchange in Lower Manhattan, one only has to glance up Wall Street to spot the spire of Trinity Church. Despite being within one block of each other, these two spheres of influence can seem miles apart. Yet on this year’s World Water Day, these divergent […]

Demonstrating strong investor opposition to special interest efforts to weaken key elements of the shareholder resolution process (SEC rule 14a-8), a group of leading investor organizations representing $65 trillion in assets wrote last week to the Trump administration urging support for the SEC’s existing shareholder proposal process, which is providing wide-ranging benefits. The letter was […]

Major U.S. businesses are urging the federal Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt to leave in place vehicle standards for passenger cars and light trucks. In a letter delivered this week to Mr. Pruitt, the businesses pointed out that the standards are good for business and for the economy as a whole. “We support staying […]

Amidst all the political rancor, the reality is that the incoming administration should be the loudest advocate for climate action, if for no other reason than to deliver on its ambitious jobs creation goal. Maintaining U.S. climate leadership would better position companies to capitalize on the immense business opportunity and get out ahead of growing […]

More than 530 companies and 100 investors – from iconic Fortune 500 firms to small family-owned businesses – are calling on the Trump administration and the new Congress to support policies to accelerate a low-carbon future that will help curb climate change. “We want the U.S. economy to be energy efficient and powered by low-carbon […]

The vast majority of climate scientists (97 percent) believe climate change is real, but what about your mutual fund company? We examined how the nation’s largest mutual fund companies voted on climate-related shareholder resolutions in 2015 and 2016. The results are revealing. While the great majority of mutual fund companies voted in favor of many climate-related […]

You may not know it from the headlines, but Washington is not the only energy game that matters these days. Companies that buy massive amounts of energy and states that set the policies that shape the energy mix of their economies – whether with clean energy or climate-warming fossil fuels – also play a major […]

A new capital markets solution is opening up in the battle against climate change—and business is leading the charge. Climate Risk Disclosure Under the leadership of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a global industry initiative just released its much-anticipated guidelines for voluntary climate risk disclosure by companies and investors in financial filings. The guidelines, […]

“Originally established by President Richard Nixon in 1970, the EPA has a long and distinguished track record of reducing pollution, saving lives and providing industry the clarity it needs to thrive and innovate for the benefit of the country and the economy. Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA  — in both Democratic and Republican […]

In response to the Environmental Protection Agency’s announcement that it would stay the course on 2012 greenhouse gas  (GHG) standards for automobiles and light duty trucks, major investors released statements supporting the decision: Ken Locklin, director of Impax Asset Management and Stu Dalheim, vice president of Calvert Investments are members of the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), a project of Ceres that […]

In a move designed to ensure oil and gas majors do far more to address the climate change challenge, global investors from Europe, North America, Asia and Australasia have today published an updated second edition of their guide setting out the challenges facing the sector and investor expectations for how oil and gas companies must […]

More than 365 businesses and investors, from more than a dozen Fortune 500 firms to small, family-owned businesses across more than 35 states, sent a strong message today to President Barack Obama, President-elect Donald Trump, and other elected U.S. and global leaders, reaffirming their support for the historic Paris Climate Agreement and the need to […]

The stunning U.S. election results are in, but we should refrain from thinking they will completely thwart climate action and the clean energy economy in the U.S. and around the world. Today’s reality is that the transition to the low-carbon economy is irreversible, inevitable and fully underway. There’s no turning back. More investors and businesses […]

On the cusp of official “entry into force” of the groundbreaking Paris Agreement on climate change, it’s a great time to take a look at how the United States is positioned to drive the Agreement’s objectives forward. With a recently proposed Integrated Resource Plan from Dominion Resources in Virginia and an agreement struck by Xcel […]

As climate change, population growth and water pollution increase pressure on freshwater resources, seven global food and beverage companies today announced commitments to work with thousands of growers in their global supply chains to reduce water use and pollution impacts. The seven companies – Diageo, General Mills, Hain Celestial, Hormel Foods, Kellogg, PepsiCo, and WhiteWave […]

Less than a week after the UN confirmed the Paris Agreement would come into effect on 04 November this year, a global network of more than 250 institutional investors (representing assets worth over $24 Trn) has published a guide setting out the threats facing the automotive sector and investor expectations for how these companies must […]

As the comment period closes on the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Technical Assessment Report released by federal and state agencies, major investors are releasing statements in favor of strong fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions standards. Ken Locklin, director of Impax Asset Management and Stu Dalheim, vice president of Calvert Investments are members of […]

“Today’s action sends a powerful signal to the markets that the shift to a low-carbon, clean energy economy is now accelerating. The rest of the world’s countries should take notice. “While it’s critical to have the world’s two largest economies moving together, we’re still a far cry from moving in lock step globally. We must find […]

As leaders of the world’s largest economies prepare to attend the upcoming G20 meeting in Hangzhou, China, 130 investors (with over $13 Trillion AUM) from a coalition of six organisations(1) have written to the G20 heads of state urging them to ratify the Paris Climate Agreement this year and call on G20 nations to double […]

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is starting to take sustainability risks—and corporate reporting of those risks—seriously. The concept is straightforward: climate change, water scarcity, human and workers’ rights, and the ongoing global transition to a low carbon economy pose significant risks and opportunities to companies and the investors who own them. Under long-standing SEC […]

More than 70 companies and 20 institutional investors are urging Northeast and Mid-Atlantic governors to strengthen their efforts to reduce carbon emissions from the regions’ electric power sector. The call comes as the governors of nine states — Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont — meet to decide […]

In response to a formal review of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s corporate disclosure requirements, dozens of institutional investors have submitted letters to the federal agency requesting quick action to require stronger reporting of sustainability risks such as climate change, water scarcity and global deforestation. “Based on our experience with these issues, we believe it […]

Many leading U.S. insurance groups are significantly invested in oil & gas and other fossil fuel industries, even as these sectors face growing pressure from the global clean energy transition and physical impacts associated with climate change, according to a first-of-its-kind report announced today. Authored by the nonprofit sustainability group Ceres in collaboration with investment […]

In a world first, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) has become the first entity to issue a green bond certified under the Water Climate Bonds Standard, a screening tool that specifies the criteria that must be met for bonds labelled as “green” or earmarked for funding water-related, low carbon initiatives. Proceeds from the […]

As the clean energy transition continues to pick up steam globally in the wake of the Paris Climate Agreement, the nonprofit sustainability Ceres and major investors welcomed today’s commitment from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to significantly cut methane emissions from the oil and gas industry. The oil and gas sector is the largest source […]

Momentum is building in the U.S. for better climate disclosure. Investors and analysts continue to send strong signals that Paris marked a turning point on climate action. On Friday, Occidental Petroleum announced the results of voting on a 2 degree stress testing resolution at its annual meeting, and yet again the votes represented a high-water […]

A week after more than 170 countries signed the Paris Agreement and investors voted on a shareholder climate risk resolution at the AGM of US utility AES Corporation, a global network of more than 270 institutional investors (representing assets worth over €20 trillion) has published a guide setting out the threats facing the utilities sector […]

  LONDON/SYDNEY/BOSTON, April 18, 2016 /3BL Media/ –The Paris Agreement enters into force once 55 countries representing 55% of global emissions have deposited their instruments of accession with the UN. Investors support an early entry into force of the agreement, possibly as early as next year. Speaking in London Stephanie Pfeifer, CEO of the Institutional Investors […]

In 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission took one giant step towards acknowledging climate change as a financial risk and opportunity for markets, and not simply the major environmental threat of our time. The SEC’s formal guidance on climate risk disclosure, issued in response to an investor petition, details how material climate risks must be […]

Ceres president Mindy Lubber praised the members of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) on the release of their “Phase 1” report today, which lays out the scope and high level objectives for the task force’s work. The TCFD, formed by the Financial Stability Board in December 2015 in response to a request […]

Investors focus on carbon asset risks, engagements with securities regulators, and the effects of climate risk on financial stability SOURCE: Ceres DESCRIPTION: April 1, 2016 /3BL Media/ – Ceres president Mindy Lubber praised the members of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) on the release of their “Phase 1” report today, which lays out […]

The global climate agreement adopted in Paris in December is far more than just a roadmap for tackling climate change. It’s also a blueprint for rethinking how we bring energy to 1.3 billion people who live without electricity—a significant barrier to eradicating global poverty. On both of these fronts, clean energy, not fossil fuel energy, […]

The nonprofit sustainability advocacy organization Ceres issued the following statement today in support of the announcement by President Obama and Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada on climate, energy and Arctic leadership. From Mindy Lubber, Ceres president and director of the Investor Network on Climate Risk: “Stepped up US-Canada collaboration on climate provides a welcome North American […]

“After several years of Ceres and our investor members working with individual exchanges and the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) on sustainability reporting standards, we welcome today’s commitment by seven Nasdaq stock exchanges in Europe to create sustainability reporting guidance for their listed companies in 2016. These commitments are timely and sensible given growing concerns about climate […]

“We’re disappointed with the action by the Court. We believe EPA has ample legal authority to pursue the Clean Power Plan.  In addition, EPA has taken a measured and reasonable approach to pursuing GHG reductions, allowing states a great degree of flexibility in meeting the CPP targets over an extended compliance period between 2022 and […]

To reach the level of investment in new renewable power generation needed to avert dangerous climate change, $12.1 trillion of investment will be needed over the next 25 years, which is $5.2 trillion above business-as-usual projections, a new report by Ceres and Bloomberg New Energy Finance concludes. “Clean energy investment is poised for rapid growth,” […]