2005 SOCIAL IMPACT
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2005 Highlights
As a shareholder in the Domini Funds, you make a difference
in the world. Listed below are highlights of how you made a difference in 2005.
Corporate Engagement
Freedom of Expression and
the Internet: Domini, Boston Common Asset
Management, and Reporters Without Borders drafted a joint statement of
investors calling on Internet businesses to support freedom of expression
worldwide, in response to recent revelations that U.S. companies are helping
repressive regimes to censor the Internet and jail dissidents. The
statement was endorsed by more than 25 institutions in four countries,
representing more than $20 billion in assets.
Environment:
Domini
helped convince JPMorgan Chase — a $1.1 trillion bank with operations in
more than 50 countries — to adopt a comprehensive environmental policy,
addressing global warming, illegal logging, protection of habitats, and the
rights of indigenous peoples. It will impact the bank’s loans, investments,
research and lobbying activities, employee training, and internal operations.
Our coalition, led by Christian Brothers Investment Services, helped convince
the bank to hire its first Director of Environmental Affairs in 2004.
Global
Labor Standards: In
response to a shareholder resolution filed by Domini, Apple Computer adopted
a code of conduct for the suppliers that manufacture its products around the
world. The code, which incorporates significant comments from our shareholder
coalition, covers the core conventions of the International Labor Organization,
including strong provisions on freedom of association, collective bargaining,
and forced labor.
Nondiscrimination:
After
a five-year campaign, Emerson Electric agreed to amend its company-wide
nondiscrimination policy to prohibit discrimination against its gay and lesbian
employees.
Retail
Store Siting: Domini
and Christian Brothers Investment Services released Outside the Box: Guidelines for
Retail Store Siting, a 38-page report including a set of nine social
and
environmental guidelines for big-box retailers to use in
making decisions about store site locations, land procurement, and leasing. The
guidelines were supported by an additional 16 institutional investors and
mutual fund families representing $32 billion in assets under management.
Global
Poverty and Trade: Domini coauthored the report Post-Multifiber
Arrangement Challenges, presenting the results of a survey of 65 American
companies on their response to the expiration of the Multifiber Arrangement, an
international treaty that established country quotas for garment production. It
suggested how companies can lessen the negative impact on developing countries.
(The report, published by the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility in
its “Corporate Examiner,” is available at www.iccr.org)
