投資者對環(huán)境公司施加壓力

投資者對環(huán)境公司施加壓力

Investors are increasingly demanding companies outside of the oil and gas business to consider the environment in their decisions.

投資者越來越多地要求石油和天然氣行業(yè)以外的公司在決策時考慮環(huán)境因素。

In a few weeks, Amazon investors will vote on a proposal to push the company to show how it is reducing its use of fossil fuels. In the American state of Kentucky, Yum Brands stockholders want to know what the parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell is doing about deforestation.

幾周后，亞馬遜的投資者將投票通過一項提案，推動亞馬遜展示其如何減少對化石燃料的使用。在美國的肯塔基州，百勝品牌的股東們想知道肯德基、必勝客和塔可貝爾的母公司正在關(guān)于森林砍伐問題做些什么。

Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) studies corporate governance and responsible investing. The group found that outside of the energy and utility industries, investors only looked at 33% of such proposals five years ago. So far this year, that number nearly doubles to 60%.

機構(gòu)股東服務(wù)(ISS)研究公司管理并負責任地進行投資，該集團發(fā)現(xiàn)，在能源和公用事業(yè)行業(yè)之外，五年前投資者只關(guān)注了33%的此類提案，今年到目前為止，這個數(shù)字幾乎翻了一番，達到60%。

Kosmas Papadopoulos is the executive director of ISS Analytics. “Climate change will affect all industries,” he said. “And I think we’ll see more in other sectors.”

科斯馬斯帕帕佐普洛斯是ISS分析公司的執(zhí)行主任。“氣候變化將影響所有行業(yè)，”他說，“我認為，在其他領(lǐng)域，我們會看到更多。”

Peter Reali is head of responsible investing at Nuveen, a global investment company. “You’re definitely seeing investors ask for it, but you’re also seeing companies wanting to talk a lot more about it, in particular on climate change issues,” he said. “We have meetings or phone calls with hundreds of companies annually, and boards are really interested in what investors think about this stuff.”

彼得·雷利是全球投資公司Nuveen負責投資的主管。“你肯定看到了投資者的要求，但你也看到一些公司想要更多地談?wù)撛搯栴}，特別是在氣候變化問題上，“他說，“我們每年都會與數(shù)百家公司開會或打電話，董事會對投資者關(guān)于這件事的看法非常感興趣。”

Most stockholder proposals pushing for environmental action fail to pass. Company managements usually suggest voting against them. Many say they are already paying increased attention to the environment.

大多數(shù)股東推動環(huán)境行動的提案未能通過，公司管理層總是建議投票反對他們，許多人說他們已經(jīng)越來越關(guān)注環(huán)境了。

At Starbucks’ annual meeting in March, stockholders voted against a request for a progress report on recycling cups and reducing waste that ends up in the ocean.

在3月份的星巴克年會上，股東們投票反對一份關(guān)于回收杯子和減少最終在海洋中產(chǎn)生的垃圾的進度報告的請求。

Starbucks’ management said that it already has planned to eliminate plastic straws, among other environmental-friendly moves. The proposal lost by a five-to-four vote.

星巴克的管理層表示，它已經(jīng)計劃在其他環(huán)保舉措中消除塑料吸管，這項提案以5比4而未通過。

Papadopoulos notes that getting support for such proposals is difficult “even for some of the issues where you may have seen consensus in the market.” He added, “anything above 30%, we generally consider as significant.”

帕帕佐普洛斯指出，要獲得對這些提案的支持是很困難的，“即使是市場上你已經(jīng)看到的達成共識的一些問題也是如此。”他補充說，“在超過30%的情況下，我們通常認為是重要的。”

But the biggest successes for investors may not take place at stockholder meetings at all. They may come, instead, during the private conversations between stockholders and companies.

但對于投資者來說，最大的成功可能根本不會發(fā)生在股東大會上。相反，它們可能出現(xiàn)在股東和公司之間的私人談話中。

For example, the investing group Green Century Capital Management said it recently withdrew a proposal made to Royal Caribbean Cruises. The proposal concerned the cruise operator’s food waste management. After the withdrawal, Royal Caribbean still agreed to document annually how much food waste it has and what it is doing to reduce it.

例如，投資集團綠色世紀資本管理公司表示，它最近撤回了向皇家加勒比郵輪提出的一項提案，這項提案涉及郵輪經(jīng)營者的食物浪費管理問題。提案撤銷后，皇家加勒比地區(qū)仍同意每年記錄其有多少食物浪費，及其為減少浪費所做的工作。

I'm John Russell.

約翰·羅素報道。

Words in This Story

investor – n. a person who uses money to earn more money : a person who uses their money to purchase stock in a company, to buy property, etc., in order to make future profit

sector – n. an area of an economy : a part of an economy that includes certain kinds of jobs

board – n. a group of people who manage or direct a company or organization

recycle – v. to make something new from (something that has been used before)

consensus – n. a general agreement about something : an idea or opinion that is shared by all the people in a group

significant – adj. very important