Belonging through shared stewardship and accountability
The Northwest Coalition for Responsible Investment (NWCRI) and Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) stakeholders continue to organize and persist in holding companies accountable to benefitting the common good. We continue to leverage shareholder power to build places of belonging. Many communities and peoples are at great risk of further dehumanization and marginalization. The change in the federal administration has ushered in untold harm through dramatic shifts in policy and deregulation through executive orders. While deregulation may decrease cost and boost profits in the short term, in the long-term the uncertainty of clean-energy investments, higher climate and health costs, and the reallocation of taxes and spendings to benefit higher income households will increase risks for public health, climate damage, corporations, decrease shareholder value, and most importantly strip the human dignity of people and communities around the world. The shareholder advocacy space has also been impacted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) mid-season rules changes, making it easier for companies to challenge and omit environmental and social impact proposals from their proxies. Similarly, trade associations are lobbying congress to limit filings of environmental and social shareholder proposals, and hamstring proxy advisors from advising clients on ESG issues. Despite these headwinds, faith-based and values-based investors had a successful proxy season asking shareholders to protect and promote human rights and worker rights' in the sugar supply chain in India, to provide workplace heat stress protection, increased transparency on the impact on gig workers, and paid sick leave in the retail industry. For the first time investors
THIS YEAR NWCRI BROUGHT 20 JUSTICE ISSUES TO THE BOARDROOMS OF 30 CORPORATIONS, FILED 28 SHAREHOLDER RESOLUTIONS, AND PARTICIPATED IN OVER 45 DIALOGUES.
We engaged corporations on numerous issues including:
• Child and migrant labor abuses in supply chains • Worker health and safety • Freedom of association • Workplace protection of workers from heat stress and second hand smoke exposure • Domestic and global access to affordable healthcare • Tax transparency • Children rights for online safety • Racial and gender equity gaps • Children online safety; and safe development of AI by design and AI data protection filed a tax-transparency proposal in the pharmaceutical industry and an externalization cost related proposal in the healthcare industry! A highlight of the year for NWCRI was engaging the largest healthcare corporation in the world, UnitedHealth Group as well as engaging pharma companies to increase access and affordability of healthcare and medicines. Our health system spends at least twice as much as other western nations and yet the U.S. has the highest reported rates of maternal and infant mortality, avoidable and treatable conditions, and chronic disease burden rate. Exclusion continues to permeate the healthcare system, especially the 26 million people that are uninsured and 25% of workers that are underinsured. ANNUAL REPORT | APPEAL FOR SUPPORT
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