As the summer heats up, we are taking a virtual trip around the world to introduce you to select managers in our SMART Investing Solutions suite. One goal of our diligence process is to find managers who make a positive impact through active shareholder engagement, alongside security selection.

Green Century, a manager in our Fossil-Fuel Free managed mutual fund model, hosts an award-winning, in-house shareholder advocacy program. The firm engages over one hundred companies every year, pressing them to improve their environmental policies and practices on a wide variety of issues, from protecting tropical forests to reducing their climate impact.

Among the firm’s noteworthy advocacy achievements is its campaign to prevent plastic pollution. Eleven million metric tons of plastic end up in the ocean each year¹, which negatively impacts the environment in myriad ways, from harming wildlife to threatening human health. Green Century tackles this problem at the source by urging portfolio companies to reduce their use of plastic packaging

In just the last year, Green Century secured plastic reduction commitments from five major corporations, including Coca-Cola and Mattel:

• Coca-Cola, named the “largest plastic polluter on the planet for the third year in a row,” agreed to reduce new plastic use by three million metric tons by 2025.¹
• Mattel “was extremely receptive” to engagement and will begin disclosing metrics illustrating their plastic footprint.¹

To learn more, check out this video with Annalisa Tarizzo of Green Century: Convincing Coca-Cola and Mattel to reduce their plastic use.