Where You Put Your Money Matters!

Many of us spend time and energy raising awareness about social justice issues, including climate change. But, have we worked hard enough to make sure that the money we have in banks and investments are being managed in a socially responsible way? Could it be that our money is being used in ways that are not aligned with our professed values? Scroll down for the quick links below to get started.

Placer Earth Care Action believes we have a moral and spiritual obligation beyond any political agenda to promote effective and just action on climate change. The Earth and all who live upon it (plant and animal) are interconnected. What happens to the Earth affects all of us, and by caring for the Earth, we also care for each other. Sadly, it is often the most vulnerable populations who suffer the most from the effects of climate change (and these often have done the least to cause it), making this an issue of social and environmental justice.

March 12, 2023 SFUU/PECA Forum
This presentation explores some tools and resources to help you align your investments, banks, and credit cards with your values (scroll down on this web page for the links to the resources mentioned in this recording, and more!)

Resources

The resources provided below are an outgrowth of research done for the March 12, 2023 Mission Earth/PECA Forum: What You Do With Your Money Matters. If you find other useful resources, useful let Barb know (bjmunn57@gmail.com) and she will add it!

EXPLORING Your Investments

Understanding Your Investment Funds vis à vis Your Values

Mutual Funds and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) consist of multiple companies bundled together. See below for some basic information about such funds and then some on-line tools to investigate your funds, and the companies included in your funds.

Tools to Investigate YOUR Investment Funds

  • Learn about your fund’s investment philosophy from its prospectus! Just do a search for the ‘fund name’ (or ticker designation) followed by ‘prospectus’. The prospectus should provide a summary of the fund, what companies are included in its holdings, and its financial performance relative to an index fund. There is a lot of information in a prospectus and if you are not finance-savy, you can bring it to your financial advisor and ask them to explain it.

  • SEC Search for Mutual Funds - You can also look up information about your mutual funds at the SEC (Securities & Exchange Commission). If you look up your mutual fund using the SEC search engine, then on your search return you can click on the series number in the far left column to get the prospectuses and proxy voting Records for that fund.

  • As You Sow - This site helps you search your 401(k) or personal investments for information about funding to which you might object. You can search funds by name, ticker, or manager. Not every investment is there, but if it is, then you can see a report on what types of activities that investment funds, including an A to F rating for the investment. If you scroll down on this As You Sow web page, you will see some icons for more specific issues to click on - each one will allow you to search for your funds, but also has a button you can push to get the top rated funds for that issue. The issues they search on are:

  • Heart Rating of Socially Responsible Funds - This rating system for socially responsible investment funds is maintained by Natural Investmenst, LLC. The ratings distinguish funds that take a comprehensive approach to ESG from those that address only a few issues. The rating includes over 40 ESG criteria, in the following categories:

    • ‘Vices’ (alcohol, firearms, gambling, tobacco)

    • Environment (including fossil fuel and green economy sectors)

    • Employment Practices (including wage and worplace standards, diversity and equity, benefits)

    • Corporate Governance (including Board diversity and independence, and responsiveness to shareholders

    • Product Quality and Safety

    • Military Contracting

    • Health Issues

    • Community Relations (including toward BIPOC communities)

    • International Human Rights

  • Investigate: Are Human Rights Violations Hidden in Your Investments? - this site is a project of the American Friends Service Committee, which keeps tabs on investments in state violence through companies involved in mass incarceration, immigrant detention and surveillance, military occupation, or the border industry. Just enter your fund name into their search box; you can also search their data base of individual companies..

  • ESG Fund Ratings and Climate Search Tool - this site is maintained by MSCI (Morgan Stanley Capital International) and explores more than 56,000 equity and fixed income funds. Just enter the ticker for your fund (or that name of the fund) and it will give you information about the following:

    • how well the fund is aligned to global climate goals

    • how the fund is currently exposed to climate transition risk and opportunities

    • the impact of ESG issues on the fund

    • how aligned the fund is with best practices on board independence and diversity

    • possible business activities the some investors would avoid

  • Sustainable Investment Mutual Funds and ETFs Chart - This is a tool meant for individual investors to compare cost, financial performance, screens and voting records of competing sustainable investment mutual funds and ETFs offered by US|SIF’s institutional member firms. The chart has 4 tab across the top for you to investigate: Financial Performance, Screening & Advocacy (this includes ESG categories), Proxy Voting (if you dive into this you may see what ESG issues come up in the proxy votes), and Account Minimums

  • MSCI Climate Indices - These index funds have been created for investors who wish to address climate change. MCSI, Inc. is a finance company (Morgan Stanley Capital International); be sure to check the index through As You Sow, if possible.

  • S & P GSCI Climate Aware - This is a new Dow Jones index, I am not sure yet if it is truly climate “friendly” but thought you might want to take a look, here is a link to a summary of what the Climate Aware index is all about (Seeking Alpha, Feb. 2023).

Tools to Investigate the Companies Within Your Funds

  • Just Capital - This non-profit measures and ranks companies on the issues that Americans care about most - fair pay, equal treatment for all workers, good jobs, community involvement and commitment to a healthy planet. It lists companies, but not investments. So, if you want to investigate a particular company that might be bundled in your investments, you can search for it here and get details about its performance related to workers, communities, customers, shareholders & governance, and the environment. Note, that these rankings do not seem to screen for fossil fuel funding, so you should combine with Fossil Free Funds to get the full picture if that is an issue that concerns you.

  • The Carbon Underground 200 - Unsure of what companies own fossil fuel reserves? Here you can request a list of the top 200 global publicly-listed coal, oil, and gas reserve owners.

  • Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (CHRB) - Is human rights the issue that interests you? CHRB publishes a report every year scoring over 100 of the world’s most influential companies in terms of Human Rights - you can download the report and also the data set and look up companies that might be in your investment portfolio.

  • Human Rights Campaign: Corporate Equality Index - Is LGBTQ+ equality the issue that interestst you? This index is the national benchmarking tool on corporate policies, practices and benefits pertinent to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer employees. You can look at a link to the Best Places to Work for LGBTQ+ Equality, view the most recent report, and use their Employer Search Tool.

  • Great Place to Work - Are you interested in how well a company treats its employees? Check out the numerous ‘Best Workplaces’ prepared by Great Place to Work.

  • Sustainalytics ESG Risk Rating - Sustainalytics (partnered with Morningstar) is a business that provides ESG ratings (also research and data) to institutional investors and companies. On this site, you can search the risk ratings of a business based on the components of ESG (Enviromental, Social, Governance). The Morningstar sustainability rating is briefly explained here (including a little video)

  • ESG Reports - Many companies produce an ESG report, that is publicly available (in any search engine, you could search for your a ‘company’s name’ followed by ‘ESG’ to find their report (their report should also be on the company website, if they did one). Doing an ESG report suggests that the company sees the ESG criteria as valuable and are actively using that criteria to guide their decision-making.

  • 10-K Annual Reports - If a company is publicly traded, then it must fill an annual 10K report with the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission). This report gives a detailed picture of a company’s business, the risks it faces, and the operating and financial results for the fiscal year. In this report, you may find the company’s take on environmental, social and governance issues, even if they have not created an official ESG report.

    • In addition, you can do a search for their 13D report, which must be filed with the SEC when any group acquires more that own 5% of a voting class of a company’s securities. Knowing who owns large shares in a company is important because they can influence the direction of a company with their votes (supporting particular board members or resolutions at shareholder meetings, for example).

    • Probably the easiest way to obtain a company’s 10K or 13D is to do an internet search on “company name” and “10K” (or “13D”).

  • Proxy Preview - Shareholder resolutions (voted on at a company’s annual meeting) are one way to encourage corporate responsibility and sustainable environmental and social practices. Proxy preview publishes and annual report about the year’s shareholder resolutions related to environmental issues, social issues, and sustainable governance. The report is collaboration between As You Sow, the Sustainable Investment Institute, and Proxy Impact.

  • Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsiblity (ICCR) - on this site, you can type in a company’s name and find out what share-holder resolutions were voted on this year (and their status). Green America provides similar data. Again - share holder resolutions may give you a better idea about the environmental, social, and governance practices of a company. If you own enough stock, you may file your own shareholder resolution.

General Information About Sustainable/Socially Responsible Investing

ESG: Environmental, Social, Governance

ESG is a framework that helps stakeholders (investors, customers, suppliers, employees) understand how a company or organization is managing risks and opportunities inherent in their day-to-day activities related to environmental, social, and governance criteria. So, in the more user-friendly words of a 2019 Forbes article: ESG “refers to a company’s commitment to do more than make a profit, such as actively strive to contribute positively to the environment or social causes and to conduct themselves responsibly.” ESG factors are used to measure a company’s:

  1. impact on their environment in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, resource efficiency (energy use, water conservation, etc.), recycling, emergency preparedness, climate risk

  2. behavior in social areas such as working conditions (fair wages, for example), health & safety, human rights, customer satisfaction, data & privacy, and impact on the community where they are located.

  3. governance practices such how an organization is led and managed, including executive pay, board diversity, equity & inclusion, shareholders rights, bribery & corruption, transparency, and accountability.

Basic Information about ESG

Information about the Recent Attacks on ESG Investing

Exploring Your Bank

Do you know what your bank is funding using the money you have deposited with them? Check out the Banking on Chaos 2022 Report to learn more, the top 4 banks funding the expansion of the fossil fuel industry are here in the U.S. (Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America), but they are not the only ones! If you bank at one of those top 4 banks and want them to change, you can sign an open letter to the bank CEO’s at Stop the Money Pipeline (they are hoping for 50,000 signatures), or write a divestment letter to mail provided by This! is What We Did (scroll down on that page to get the letters).

Investigate Your Bank - not all banks are listed here (only the worst), so check here first.

  • Bank Green - enter your bank’s name to check whether or not it’s funding the fossil fuel industry; some banks are subsidiaries of bigger banks, so if your bank name doesn’t show up, try the name of the bigger bank that owns it.

  • Fossil Banks - The graphic on this page list the top 60 banks financing the fossil fuel industry and how much each has spent (in billions of dollars) since the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. To find out more, select your bank from the alphabetical drop down list in the ‘Select Bank’ box.

  • Banktrack - Scroll down just a little on this page until you see two search boxes (one for “Search Banks” next to one that says “Search Countries”). If you type in United States into the country box, then you will see all of the banks in the US that they are tracking. If your bank is there, then click on the bank, which willt ake you to a page devoted to that bank; click on the boxes on the bank page to learn more about your bank (especially look at ‘Dodgy Deals’ and ‘Campaigns’).

Tools For Finding Better Banks

  • Ethical Banking: What Is a Socially Responsible Bank? - Mar. 2022, Nerd Wallet

  • Mighty Deposits - This is an independent, woman-owned bank comparison site. Its mission is to “help you to see what you bank does with your money and find banking that matches your values.”

  • Better Banking Options - On this site, you put your location into the box and then click on the orange “Find Better Banks” button to see the banks this site considers a better bank - the banks are rated by how well they support their local communities.

  • Find a B Corps certified bank - Go here to find a list of B Corps certified sustainable banks in the United States. To become B Corps certified, a company completes a comprehensive questionnaire (called the B Impact Assessment, or BIA) that determines its impact on their community, employees, the environment, and beyond. B Corps certification is the gold standard for better business practices. The BIA is run by B Lab, a nonprofit organization that not only provides the BIA but is also responsible for reviewing Assessments for companies seeking B Corp certification, approving maintenance of certification, and providing guidance for those seeking recertification.

  • Find a bank belonging to the Global Alliance for Banking Values (GABV) - Scroll down on to the world map on this page, then click on the drop down menu for North America to get a list of GABV banks, or click on the circled on the map itself. The Global Alliance for Banking Values is an independent network of banks that collectively seek to change the banking systm so that is is more transparent, supports economic, social and environmental sustainability.

  • Bank for Good - Here you can sign a pledge to switch banks, or you can just click on the ‘Browse Good Banks’ button to do a search for a bank, credit union, or other financial institution near you that doesn’t fund fossil fuels.

  • Green America: Get a Better Bank - On this site, click on the “Search for Banks and Credit Unions” button and it will take you to a map of the world showing locations of what they consider to be better banks (community development banks or credit unions). You can zoom in on your location and see if there are any ‘better banks’ in your area, then click on the pins to get more information about each bank or credit union.

  • Stop the Money Pipeline - Fossil Free Banking Options - in the box, select the type of account you are looking for, the state that you live in and whether or not you prefer a bank located near to you, then hit the ‘Next’ button.

A Few Reviews of Environmentally Friendly/Socially Responsible Banks

More Resources to Investigate Banks

  • Just Capital - This non-profit measures and ranks companies, including banks, on the issues such as fair pay, equal treatment for all workers, good jobs, community involvement and commitment to a healthy planet. It lists companies, including some banks. You can search for your bank here and get details about its performance related to workers, communities, customers, shareholders & governance, and the environment. Note, that these rankings do not for fossil fuel funding, so you should combine with Fossil Banks to get the full picture if that is an issue that concerns you.

  • ESG Reports - Some banks (usually the larger ones) produce an ESG report, that is publicly available (in any search engine, you could search for your a ‘bank’s name’ followed by ‘ESG’ to find their report (their report should also be on the company website, if they did one). Doing an ESG report suggests that the company sees the ESG criteria as valuable and are actively using that criteria to guide their decision-making.

  • Sustainalytics ESG Risk Rating - Sustainalytics is a business (part of Morningstar) that provides ESG ratings (also research and data) to instituional investors and companies. On this site, you can search the risk ratings of a business, including banks, based on the components of ESG (Enviromental, Social, Governance). Many companies produce an ESG report, that is publicly available (in any search engine, you could search for your bank’s name followed by ESG to find their report). Be aware that whether or not a bank uses its capital to fund the fossil fuel industry is NOT included in the ESG, so double check with Fossil Banks!

  • 10-K Annual Reports - If a company is publicly traded, then it must fill an annual 10K report with the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission). This report gives a detailed picture of a company’s business, the risks it faces, and the operating and financial results for the fiscal year. In this report, you may find the company’s take on environmental, social and governance issues, even if they have not created an ESG report.

    • In addition, you can do a search for their 13D report, which must be filed with the SEC when any group acquires more that own 5% of a voting class of a company’s securities. Knowing who owns large shares in a company is important because they can influence the direction of a company with their votes (supporting particular board members or resolutions at shareholder meetings, for example).

    • Probably the easiest way to obtain a company’s 10K or 13D is to do an internet search on “company name” and “10K” (or “13D”).

The Fairy Tales of the Fossil Fuel Industry – and a Better Climate Story - This 10-minute TED Talk is well worth the time!

 

Banks and the Fossil Fuel Industry

Public Banking

Are you interested in Public Banking? There is currently only one public bank in the U.S. (in North Dakota), but in 2019, Governor Newsom signed a bill (AB 857) into law that will allow public banks to be formed in California by cities and counties. Such a bank are owned by the people (through the city, county, or state government that creates it), and can fund public projects at reduced cost, generate profits for the local government, and provide low cost loans for the local community. Public banks operate as nonprfoits and are beholden to the public’s interest, whereas private banks operate for profit and are beholden to its shareholders. Here are some links to learn more about Public Banks:

Explore Ethical Credit Cards

First, take a look at your credit cards. If they are backed by Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, or Bank of America, then a portion of the money earned by the credit card for each purchase you make is being used to fund the expansion of the fossil fuel industry (see the Banking on Chaos 2022 Report).

If you decide you want to close your “dirty bank” credit card, then check out the resources below. If you are already at a credit union, then using their credit card may be your best bet. Otherwise, look at the links below. Check to see if a linked bank account is required, whether it is secured or unsecured, what the annual percentage rate (APR) is, and if a fee is charged for using the credit card.

General Information about Credit Cards

Finding a “Green” Credit Card

Information About Switching Credit Cards

Are you passionate about climate change? Where your put your money Matters!

Over the six years since the adoption of the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015, 60 of the world’s largest banks poured $4.6 trillion into the fossil fuel industry, according to the 2022 Banking on Climate Chaos report. 25% of this huge number was provided by just four banks: JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America (the 4 largest banks in the U.S.). If your money is in one of these banks, or your credit cards are issued by one of these banks (it usually tells you on the front of your card), we encourage you to send them a message asking them to stop funding fossil fuels. Click on one (or both) buttons below for an on-line tool.