2020 Spring ICCR Conference
 
03/02/2020
9:30 am - 12:00 pmCoreCivic Dialogue [More Info]
Robing Room
Only be open to investors or their representatives.
1:00 pm - 3:00 pmMerck Dialogue [More Info]
Orthodox Room

Goals for Access to Medicines strategies; R&D focus; consideration of people who are vulnerable in developing & marketing products; goals to increase access & affordability of vaccines in middle-income countries; R&D for vaccines that focus on greatest public health needs.

Open only to investors.

 

1:00 pm - 6:30 pmBoard Meeting [More Info]
Robing Room
To discuss various matters of the Board.

03/03/2020
9:00 am - 9:30 amInterfaith Reflection
Sockman Lounge
9:30 am - 11:45 amMember's Meeting / Announcements [More Info]
Sockman Lounge

Provide an update on various organizational topics from the Board and the CEO to the membership.

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Prioritization Worksheet

11:45 am - 1:00 pmCoca- Cola Dialogue
A/B
12:00 pm - 1:00 pmVaping, Emerging Tobacco Products and Public Policy [More Info]
Sockman Lounge
Jono Polansky, Advisor, University of California San Francisco's Smokefree Movies Campaign
Speaker: Ashley Thomas, Truth Initiative

"What is Hollywood hiding?" One part of the session features Jono Polansky, advisor to UCSF’s Smokefree Movies initiative, surveyed how the top on-demand TV services handle film/TV ratings, content disclosure and parental controls — with a special focus on tobacco imagery, the only onscreen content proven to physically harm millions of young viewers. He’ll sum up his findings and offer shareholders key proposals to advance with the channel’s parent companies. We will also shareholders opportunities to engage companies -via investor sign-on letters and dialogues - on this issue.

Ashley Thomas of Truth Initative will talk about the new federal policy on vaping and what it means for Juul and other emerging products, like Puff Bars, that are gaining in popularity. What is the FDA doing about these products, as well as the new heated tobacco device that Altria and Philip Morris International putting on the market? What can investors do? Are there companies we should be approaching besides tobacco manufacturers?

 

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Senators Sample Letter

12:00 pm - 1:00 pmNew Member Lunch
Robing Room
1:00 pm - 2:00 pmNo Action Season / 14a8 Update [More Info]
Sockman Lounge
Josh Zinner, Chief Executive Officer, Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
Sanford Lewis, Attorney, Director and Founder at Shareholder Rights Group
Beth Young, Attorney, Corporate Governance Research and Consulting
Update and analysis of No Action season, as well as discussion and analysis of proposed SEC rule changes.
2:15 pm - 3:45 pmAntimicrobial Resistance [More Info]
Sockman Lounge
Fatema Rafiqui, Research Programme Manager , Antimicrobial Resistance Benchmark, Access to Medicine Foundation
Dr. Michael Hanson, Senior Scientist, Advocacy, Consumer Reports
Cathy Rowan, Director of Socially Responsible Investments, Trinity Health
Speaker: Dr. Anthony So, Professor and Director, IDEA Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

According to the WHO, effective strategies to manage antimicrobial resistance include: (1) ensuring quality and safety of antimicrobials and their appropriate use in humans and animals; (2) improving infection prevention and control; (3) strengthening supply systems of medicines and; (4) ensuring financial protection against high costs of treating drug-resistant infections.

The FDA estimates that animal agriculture accounts for 70 percent of current U.S. antibiotic use. The overuse of antibiotics in the meat industry has been directly linked to the rise of antibiotic-resistant “superbugs” in the U.S. and across the world. According to the Centers for Disease Control, antibiotic resistance is responsible for 2 million infections and 23,000 deaths each year. This public health concern prompted ICCR members to engage with meat producers, retailers and restaurants to eliminate the use of all antibiotics, including animal-only antibiotics, for purposes of growth promotion, feed efficiency and routine prevention (both prophylactic and metaphylactic use), and as an interim step eliminating the use of medically important antibiotics. In addition to phasing out the use of medically important antibiotics in farm animal production systems, the pharmaceutical industry has been called on to accelerate their scientific discovery of new antibiotics. The last discovery of a new antibiotic class that reached the market was in 1987. Since then there has been a lack of innovation in the field, and today there are few novel antibiotic classes in the drug pipeline. Even with the commitment at Davos in 2016 from over 100 companies and associations to actively tackle the public health threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), there has been little movement. In fact, the 2020 Antimicrobial Benchmark shows that only a few large research-based companies remain broadly engaged in developing new antibiotics, down from more than 20 in the 1980s. Four companies GSK, Novartis (through its generics arm, Sandoz), Teva and Mylan – account for more than half of the 200 sites that produce antibiotics globally. ICCR members are increasingly concerned that the Pharmaceutical Industry needs to better align with the collective industry mission to facilitate the discovery of and access to life-saving and life-enhancing medicines and vaccines, for people everywhere.

AMR is not only a material risk but a systemic risk across multiple sectors including the food, pharmaceutical, healthcare and insurance industries. Immediate action is required to preserve the efficacy of antibiotics against diseases in both humans and animals.

This session will highlight the connection of antibiotic use across the environment, people and animals and the resulting public health crisis of antimicrobial resistance. Further, it will address how ICCR members can leverage their influence beyond the food industry to pharmaceutical and healthcare to address the mounting issue of AMR.

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4:00 pm - 5:00 pmGun Safety [More Info]
Sockman Lounge
Adam Skaggs, Chief Counsel and Policy Director, Giffords Law Center
Sandy and Lonnie Phillips, Survivors Empowered
Igor Volsky, Co-Founder and Director, Guns Down America

Members of the gun safety group will hear from speakers from several gun violence prevention groups about their work and discuss opportunities for potential collaboration.

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4:00 pm - 5:00 pmFaithInvest [More Info]
A/B
Nana Francois, Membership Director, FaithInvest
Mike Even, Interim Executive Director, FaithInvest
Susan Smith Makos, Vice President of Social Responsibility, Mercy Investments
The faiths are a natural powerhouse for ethical, faith-based and impact investing that contributes to environmental, social and governance (ESG) or socially responsible investing (SRI) and supports the aims of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. As investors, the faiths have historically focused on what they don’t want to invest in (such as weapons). Now is an important time to focus on what they do want to invest in through impact investments for a better future for people and planet. FaithInvest's mission is to promote globally faith consistent investments in partnership with organizations such as ICCR. Its focus is to accelerate and broaden faith-consistent, values-driven investing by providing a NETWORK for faith-based investors, a SOURCE of education, exchange and collaboration, a PLATFORM for investment ideas, opportunities and concepts, and a VOICE for the faiths and values-driven investors.
5:00 pm - 7:00 pmWelcome Reception
Interchurch Center Lobby

03/04/2020
9:00 am - 10:15 amWater Session: Securing the Right to a Healthy Environment [More Info]
Sockman Lounge

This session will examine the right to a healthy environmental, especially in the midst of current regulatory rollbacks. Many federal regulations that could make our environments healthier are being stalled or rolled back, and the impact is most acutely felt by communities of color and those with high poverty rates.

For example, the Trump administration issued a detailed revamp of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) which requires environmental reviews for big proposed projects like highways or pipelines, as well as when polluting industries plan to discharge into the air or water. In January, environmental protections for streams, wetland and other bodies of water was rolled back, a process that has stripped pollution safeguards from drinking water sources used by around a third of all Americans. “The ‘dirty water rule’ will put clean drinking water for tens of millions of people at risk, especially the low-income communities and communities of color already disproportionately impacted by polluted.

In this session we will cover ways in which different actors are working to address the right to a healthy environment and opportunities that exist for you to participate in.

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10:30 am - 11:45 amHuman Trafficking / Worker Rights [More Info]
Sockman Lounge
Amy Lehr, Director, Human Rights Initiative Center for Strategic and International Studies
Patricia Jurewicz, Director, Responsible Sourcing Network
Speaker: Ms. Louise Greve, Director of Global Advocacy , Uyghur Human Rights Project

The government of China is perpetrating human rights abuses of unprecedented levels in Xinjiang, targeting the Uyghur population (and other Turkic Muslim peoples) on the basis of their religion and ethnicity. These include arbitrary mass detention and efforts to “cleanse” ethnic minorities of their “extremist” thoughts through “re-education” and forced labor. These repressive policies — which have been deemed crimes against humanity by researchers and rights groups — are bolstered by an extensive and pervasive tech-enabled surveillance system. Forced and prison labor is a central feature in the production of the cotton, yarn, textiles and apparel originating in the Xinjiang region.

The session will have a panel who will focus on building our understanding the conditions on the ground and how global companies with business relationships in this region are exposed to forced labor through their supply chains. The panel includes: Amy Lehr, author of "Connecting the Dots in Xinjiang: Forced Labor, Forced Assimilation and Western Supply Chains", an expert on the area, an NGO and Patricia Jurewicz, Responsible Sourcing Network.

Outcomes: a) increased awareness of the crisis and b) suggested actions for investors engaging companies who are connected to this region.

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12:00 pm - 1:00 pmLunch / Networking [More Info]
Sockman Lounge
  • New Climate & Environmental Justice engagement, Investor Advocates for Social Justice
  • PROXY VOTING BY MAJOR INVESTMENT FIRMS- STIMULATING IMPROVEMENTS, TIM SMITH
  • Communicating with the Advisory community- how to get through the headwinds, Andrew Friedman, Certified Financial Planner, Certified Sustainable Investment Professional
1:00 pm - 1:45 pmFinancial Services [More Info]
Sockman Lounge

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1:00 pm - 2:00 pmDisrupting Child Sexual Exploitation Online: Rising Risks as Companies Fail to Keep Up with Rates of Abuse [More Info]
A/B
Signy Arnason, Associate Executive Director, Canadian Centre For Child Protection
Speaker: Stephen Blight, Senior Advisor (leads team on child protection systems strengthening /violence against children), Child Protection at UNICEF Headquarters
Moderator: Tracey Rembert, Director, CBIS

Incidents of Child Sexual Exploitation Online (CSEO) have skyrocketed in recent years, with abuse material increasing by 10,000% since 2004. Social media, telecom, online gaming and Internet service companies have some responses, but they have been inadequate to staunch the tidal wave of law enforcement cases and child victims online. Hear from a major child sex abuse reporting center and a global child rights group on the state of play in keeping children safe online from sexual offenders and groomers, and where companies most need to act.

(Warning: The content of this session may be disturbing to some ICCR members, and may contain descriptions of graphic child abuse.)

Dial In Information:
Join the meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.
https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/170301749

You can also dial in using your phone.
United States: +1 (571) 317-3122

Access Code: 170-301-749


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2:15 pm - 3:15 pmInvestors for Opioid and Pharmaceutical Accountability (IOPA) [More Info]
Sockman Lounge
The Investors for Opioid and Pharmaceutical Accountability (IOPA) will provide an overview and update on its new initiatives for 2020 including the Governance Principles for a Sustainable Pharmaceutical Industry and engagements with pharmaceutical companies on opioid business risks and anticompetitive market practices that pose access barriers and result in unsustainable pricing.

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2:15 pm - 4:15 pmWalmart Strategy Session [More Info]
A/B

Background: ICCR’s engagement model for Walmart was established 20+ years ago to work on prioritized issues, through a Core Group of ICCR members. Over the years, the mix of salient issues has evolved. The composition of the Core Group reflects significant seniority. Objective: After a brief historical overview, participants will discuss and give input to a SWOT analysis, consider alternative models and brainstorm improvement ideas, including current protocols of the engagement model. The session will include discussion of: • ICCR’s current engagement model with Walmart • Salient issues that are foci of dialogue • Definition of Success on existing issues • Adding new issues • Protocols used. The session will help determine if or how to adjust our work with Walmart; and ideas for a transition of ICCR members on the engagement team over time.

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PowerPoint

3:30 pm - 4:30 pmUpdates from the Field – State of Play of Racial Justice Investing [More Info]
Sockman Lounge
Speaker: Mike Lear, Senior Vice President and Investment Counselor, Capital Group: racial justice investing for private clients
Speaker: Julianne Zimmerman, Reinventure: VC and underrepresented company founders
Speaker: Susan Baker, Trillium
Speaker: Shelly Bell, Founder, Black Girl Ventures: accessing founders capital for underrepresented entrepreneurs
Speaker: Tim Brennan, UUA: Boston community investments targeting improving racial equity
Speaker: Mellody Hobson, Co-CEO & President, Ariel Funds: the whiteness of the fund management industry
This year we will hear from a diverse selection of practitioners from the field of racial justice investing and get a wide view of the state of play on the topic.
4:45 pm - 5:45 pmProxy Voting by Defined Contribution Retirement Plan Providers (Strategy Session) [More Info]
Sockman Lounge
Josh Zinner, Chief Executive Officer, Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
Timothy H. Smith, Director of Environmental, Social and Governance Shareowner Engagement, Walden Asset Management
Susan Smith Makos, Vice President of Social Responsibility, Mercy Investments

This is a potential new advocacy strategy for interested ICCR members to engage large asset managers which provide defined contribution retirement services (DC Plan Providers) to many ICCR members (e.g. Vanguard, T. Rowe Price, & Fidelity) to improve their proxy voting support of ESG shareholder resolutions. These defined contribution plans (eg 403B and 401K plans) use investment platforms that include both mutual funds managed by these DC Plan Providers as well as other mutual funds. In addition, ICCR members have filed resolutions with some of these asset managers encouraging them to support ESG resolutions, so this new strategy is aligned with those efforts.

 

6:00 pm - 8:00 pmNext Gen [More Info]
No location

The ICCR Next Generation group was created to facilitate learning, networking and knowledge sharing within this new generation of leaders. We welcome not only those working in Shareholder Activism and Socially Responsible Investing, but all young professionals who advocate for environmental, economic and social justice while working towards a more just and sustainable future.

The Parlour Bar & Restaurant

250 W 86th St. New York, NY 10024


03/05/2020
8:00 am - 9:00 amWSR Working Group [More Info]
A/B
ICCR members who are committed to advancing the worker-driven social responsibility model for human rights in global supply chains will meet to discuss strategies around engagement, both for existing WSR campaigns and future potential partners.
9:00 am - 10:00 amLobbying / Political Spending [More Info]
Sockman Lounge
Timothy H. Smith, Director of Environmental, Social and Governance Shareowner Engagement, Walden Asset Management

This meeting will review the issues of political spending and lobbying with input from CPA' Bruce Freed and Tim Smith and John Keenan. A portion of the meeting will also discuss climate lobbying.

2020 Lobbying Proposal Tracker

BP - Our Participation in Trade Associations: Climate

10:15 am - 11:30 amWorker Driven Social Responsibility In Action [More Info]
Sockman Lounge

Worker-driven Social Responsibility (WSR) is a new paradigm for ensuring the human rights of workers in global supply chains. WSR is founded on the understanding that, in order to achieve meaningful and lasting improvements, human rights standards in corporate supply chains must be worker-driven and based in legal agreements with corporations, making WSR standards binding and enforceable. Suppliers who fail to uphold workers’ rights lose the business of these brands. Socially responsible investors have supported the growth of WSR programs including with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers' Fair Food Program, the Bangladesh Accord, and the Milk with Dignity program of Migrant Justice. Investors are an important force for ensuring that corporations adopt this proven model for human rights. This panel will include a report back from the recent ICCR/IAHR delegation to Immokalee, a chance to discuss investor engagements in support of WSR campaigns, and breakout groups to strategize how best to support current campaigns.

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11:30 am - 12:30 pmLunch / Networking
Sockman Lounge
12:30 pm - 1:45 pmClimate Crisis: A Just Transition in the Energy Sector [More Info]
Sockman Lounge
Moderator: Vonda Brunsting, Program Manager, Just Transition Project Initiative for Responsible Investment
Speaker: Debbie New, Coordinator, Gas Leaks Allies
Speaker: Lila Holzman, Energy Program Manager, As You Sow
Speaker: Kathy Laflash, President, USW Local 12004, Eversource Gas, MA; NEGWA Massachusetts

The Climate Crisis session will inform members of outcomes from the December 10th multi-stakeholder Roundtable co-convened by ICCR and the Harvard Initiative for Responsible Investment and explore implications for gas workers and affected communities of deep decarbonization by energy utilities. Investors will hear from labor and community representatives and will explore ways to engage energy utilities on questions related to the continued use of natural gas.

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Background Reading Materials

  1. EJ Strategy Framework for Just Transition
  2. The Future of Natural Gas: An Investor Persepctive
  3. Jemez Principles for Democratic Organizing
  4. Climate Change and the Just Transition: A Guide for Investor Action
  5. Statement of Investor Commitment to Support a Just Transition on Climate Change
  6. Just Transition: A Business Guide from The Just Transition Centre and the B Team
  7. “Just Transition” Definitions
  8. Article: More natural gas isn’t a “middle ground” — it’s a climate disaster
  9. New State Regulation Could Cut Emissions from Natural Gas Leaks in Half, Report Says
  10. Fast & Fair Renewable Energy Investments A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR INVESTORS
  11. The Growing Market for Clean Energy Portfolios: Economic Opportunities for a Shift from New Gas-Fired Generation to Clean Energy Across the United States Electricity Industry
  12. Gas Leaks Allies slides
  13. ICCR Building the Road Towards a Just Transition_Feb 2020
  14. Natural Gas - A Bridge to Climate Breakdown – Flyer

 

2:00 pm - 3:00 pmAudits & Accounting for Climate Risk [More Info]
Sockman Lounge
Natasha Landell-Mills, CFA, Head of Stewardship, Partner, Sarasin & Partners LLP
Samantha Ross, Founder, AssuranceMark

This session will focus on the strategic importance of audits to assure both the proper accounting of climate risk in corporate financial statements, and the accuracy of information presented in corporate sustainability reports. Natasha Landell-Mills, of Sarasin & Partners, posits that auditors, and particularly the Big Four firms (PWC, KPMG, EY and Deloitte), have a duty to flag where company accounts fail to provide a true and fair view of a company’s economic position. She contends that, alongside their recent commitment to help set global standards for climate-related disclosures, audit firms should commit to call out where profits or capital are at risk in the financial statements as the world decarbonizes in line with Paris.

Samantha Ross, formerly with the PCAOB, is working to establish assurance standards for sustainability reporting. Current assurance is at a very low level, which ought to be of concern to anyone who relies on sustainability reports to reflect corporate environmental and social commitments and action.

As shareholder rights are curtailed, voting on the auditors and audit committees will offer a lever for investors to influence companies on ESG issues. Join this session to learn from two deeply engaged and articulate advocates for a proper accounting of climate and other sustainability risks by corporations.

PPT Presentation: The Role of Assurance in Protecting Investors’ Interests in Rigorous and Reliable Climate Disclosures and Commitments

 

Background Materials

 

2:00 pm - 3:00 pmHuman Rights Risks in the Automotive Supply Chain [More Info]
A/B
Panelist: Sara Murphy, Senior Consultant, Sustainable Investments Institute
Gina Falada, Senior Program Associate, Investors Advocates for Social Justice (IASJ)

Join Investor Advocates for Social Justice (IASJ) for a panel discussion about human rights risks in the automotive sector. Complex, extended supply chains expose automotive companies to serious risks of forced labor, child labor, and hazardous working conditions. For example, cobalt used to produce batteries for electric vehicles may be sourced from mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) where children are subjected to the worst forms of child labor. Despite this exposure, exploitative business models persist due to the lack of transparency and accountability for human rights impacts in the supply chain. Learn about how faith-based investors are engaging with automotive companies to encourage more robust human rights due diligence and responsible sourcing practices. Since 2018, IASJ has engaged with 23 auto companies as part of the Shifting Gears initiative, through investor letters, dialogues, shareholder proposals, and a forthcoming benchmarking report. With support from a civil society expert and research partner, IASJ will share key findings from their engagements, such as best practice examples and areas where due diligence needs significant improvements industry-wide.

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IASJ Shifting Gears Infographics

3:15 pm - 4:15 pmMining
Sockman Lounge
3:15 pm - 4:15 pmJust Transition Policy Opportunities in Mass and NY [More Info]
A/B
John Carlson, Manager, State Policy, Ceres
Vonda Brunsting, Program Manager, Just Transition Project Initiative for Responsible Investment
This is a working session where members can learn about legislation related to Just Transition in New York and Massachusetts, and discuss possible investor engagement on policy issues in conjunction with local community and labor groups.
4:30 pm - 5:00 pmEvaluation
Sockman Lounge

03/06/2020
9:00 am - 10:30 amConocoPhillips and Indigenous Peoples [More Info]
No location
By invitation only for Conoco Phillips shareholders only. Please contact Lauren Compere at LCompere@bostoncommonasset.com if interested
10:00 am - 12:00 pmBMS Dialogue [Off-Site] [More Info]
No location
Please contact Donna Meyer if interested in participating.
10:45 am - 11:45 amConocoPhillips and CA100+
No location