Faith is influencing the actions of shareholders, according to a February 2004 report by the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility. "ICCR members are at the forefront of the social and environmental shareholder movement," said ICCR Executive Director Pat Wolf.
Religious organizations filed 129 resolutions in 2003 to persuade companies to pursue a wide variety of ethical and socially responsible actions. Resolution issue areas include:
- global warming, 21 resolutions filed, including the following:
- electric power industry (5)
- insurance industry (2)
- energy industry (8)
- automotive industry (2)
- manufacturing industry (1)
- Global Reporting Initiative (19 resolutions filed)
- tobacco (14)
- HIV/AIDS (13)
- pay disparity and executive compensation (13 resolutions)
- genetically modified organisms (10)
Other resolutions focused on diversity, vendor standards, sexual orientation discrimination, political contributions, equal employment opportunity issues, the Community Reinvestment Act, predatory lending, drug pricing, and patent regulation. "Resolutions are just one part of this interaction—our members are also leading dialogues with companies in order to assist them in implementing socially and environmentally responsible policies and initiatives," said Wolf.
Source: The Proxy Resolutions Book 2004 (www.iccr.org)
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