Newground Insights

As I survey the landscape the morning after, and as millions of votes are still being counted, I see five points of optimism – Van Jones

There’s no future in believing there’s no future – we’re not booster rockets to be spent, but command modules moving ahead toward our own and society’s better outcomes.

Of all America’s companies that have even rudimentary policies on political spending, Nike’s is – frankly – the worst we have seen. It’s language is so contorted that the company could engage in active, undisclosed, Dark Money spending in 49 states while only disclosing about one state.

Full text of the shareholder proposal on disclosure of political spending, filed by Newground Social Investment on April 11, 2020 for presentation at the 2020 annual meeting of Nike ($NKE) on September 17 in Beaverton, Oregon.

Strongly criticizing the proposed rule change, Newground Chief Executive Bruce Herbert said: "The DOL has erred considerably in proposing this Rule. Not only does the Proposed Rule appear to be politically motivated, it is deeply flawed."

Because the US’s response to Coronavirus is so uneven, and in some areas noncommittal, we expect more stock market volatility ahead. Being numbers people, we’re in the camp of expecting a Reverse Square Root Recovery — a quick down, then a quick partial recovery, followed by an uncertain path to eventual full recovery.

Calling Chevron "the Harvey Weinstein of petroleum companies" Alec Baldwin details why Chevron’s controversial RICO victory against human rights lawyer Steven Donziger does not protect it from liability in Ecuador, and why the company needs an independent board chair.

Trump administration officials are attempting to rewrite federal rules that enable shareholders to hold CEOs accountable to investors' concerns on environmental, social, and governance issues.

This proxy season – March-June, when most corporate annual meetings take place – 8 Newground proposals were voted on in company proxies. Proposals addressed Dark Money disclosure, lobbying expenses, and human rights for indigenous victims of oil pollution in Ecuador.

A larger fire now fuels investor-led efforts to drive corporations to perform better on a wide range of measures that impact racial inequality. Corporate managers have taken notice.

Watch the message Chevron doesn't want its shareholders to see. Roger Waters, legendary rock star and co-founder of Pink Floyd, urges Chevron shareholders to “do the right thing” for the 30,000 indigenous victims of the company’s toxic oil pollution in Ecuador.

Jody Williams, 1997 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, presented a shareholder proposal at Chevron's May 27 annual meeting on Newground's behalf. She joined 28 other Nobel Laureates to call on Chevron to address its pollution in Ecuador, commenting on the stark variance between company actions and its Chevron Way code of conduct.

Congress approved the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Stability (CARES) Act on March 27th. The largest stimulus bill ever, it includes significant provisions for retirement accounts.

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In response to elevated lobbying activity and political spending by Amazon both at home and abroad Newground filed a shareholder proposal for a vote of all shareholders in 2020.

A few days after SEC Chair Jay Clayton introduced proposed rule changes that would drastically curtail the rights of investors to file shareholder proposals on important environmental, social, and governance (ESG) concerns, CREDO Action, the advocacy arm of CREDO Mobile, posted an online petition opposing the new rules. The petition stated...

For perhaps the first time ever, current employees of Seattle tech giant Amazon.com have directly filed a shareholder proposal – one that calls on the company to disclose how it can ratchet down emissions to reduce dependence on fossil fuels in line with the Paris Climate Agreement.