Milestones: Firms pledge to reach zero-carbon

An ‘all hands on deck’ challenge

Each new United Nations report on the growing peril of climate change underlines the challenge humanity faces in transitioning to a zero-carbon world. Advocates, as well as political, business and civic leaders, must use every tool at our disposal to curb climate-changing emissions as swiftly as possible.

Just to add a few degrees of difficulty to this already daunting challenge, climate pollution isn’t limited to the most obvious sources, such as smokestacks and motor vehicle tailpipes. In a global economy still largely powered by the burning of oil, gas and coal, virtually every step in production, distribution, consumption and disposal of goods and many services adds more greenhouse gases to the Earth’s atmosphere.

A Pepsi challenge

An example of system-wide emissions can be found in the operations of PepsiCo Inc.

The first and most important thing to remember when tabulating Pepsi’s greenhouse gas footprint is that the pollution doesn’t just come from the factories where Pepsi’s products are made.

Carbon is emitted when making the corn syrup that flavors the drink, and more carbon is emitted transporting the syrup to the factories. Transporting and distributing sodas to the stores where they’re sold means even more trucks belching even more greenhouse gases to move the cola and keep it cold. At every stage of the production process, at every level of the supply chain, Pepsi products produce climate pollution.

So when Green Century started targeting companies, including PepsiCo, to cut down on their emissions, it took aim at emissions up and down the whole production line.

On Oct. 31, 2014, after almost a year of discussions, Green Century announced that PepsiCo had agreed to launch new initiatives to curb its climate-changing emissions. The company committed to reduce fuel consumption in its trucking fleet, work with low-carbon suppliers, and cut from its supply chains oil that had been procured using the ultra-destructive method of tar sands extraction.

Leading the way for corporate change

Pepsi isn’t the only company feeling the heat of Green Century’s advocacy.

On March 4, 2019, Amazon.com, Inc. announced a new carbon-reduction initiative. The action came after Green Century filed a shareholder proposal with the firm.

On Jan. 20, 2022, nearly 70% of Costco Wholesale Corporation shareholders voted in favor of a Green Century shareholder proposal asking the company to set targets to reduce climate emissions across all its operations and products.

“With this vote, investors demonstrated they expect Costco to align with its peers by accelerating work to reduce the climate impact of its supply chains and raising the level of ambition of its emissions reduction goals,” said Leslie Samuelrich.

As advocates and activists continue to push for action on climate at all levels, the power of shareholders has opened new fronts in the effort to transition to a zero-carbon global economy.

About this series: PIRG and The Public Interest Network have achieved much more than we can cover on this page. You can find more milestones of our work on shareholder advocacy below. You can also explore an interactive timeline featuring more of our network’s shareholder advocacy milestones.

About Green Century Capital Management

°Green Century Capital Management, Inc. (Green Century) is the investment advisor to the Green Century Funds (the Funds). 

You should carefully consider the Fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses before investing. To obtain a Prospectus that contains this and other information about the Funds please visit www.greencentury.com, email [email protected], or call 1-800-934-7336. Please read the Prospectus carefully before investing.

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This information has been prepared from sources believed reliable. The views expressed are as the date of this writing and are those of the Advisor to the Funds.

The Green Century Funds are distributed by UMB Distribution Services, LLC. 235 W Galena Street, Milwaukee, WI 53212. 5/22

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