Vesting in social change

Filed in archive Global Philanthropy on September 24, 2007

If you're interested in buying stocks of socially responsible companies, there is an index of Dow Jones traded companies called FTSE4Good which is regularly maintained by a committee to ensure they are indeed socially responsible. Even if you don't have the cash to invest, the FTSE4Good index is still an excellent shopping list.

Recently 42 companies were added and 24 were removed. Half the removed companies (mostly financial institutions) failed on environmental issues, a quarter (including Honda and Toyota) didn't quite cut it on human rights, and the final quarter (mostly Japanese companies) failed on countering bribery, and two retailers (J C Penney and Target) fell short on supply chain labor standards, with a few companies failing on more than one set of criteria.

However, one company that has been under fire relating to a freedom to unionize, Smithfield Foods, was not deleted. Human Rights Watch (HRW) sent FTSE CEO Mark Makepeace a letter on the matter, requesting the company be removed, Mark Makepeace wrote back[pdf] that same day, and then HRW replied.

In short, Smithfield Foods recently put into place a new policy which would "make peace" with some of the disputed claims, and FTSE is giving the company a shot at proving themselves. Smithfield Foods will be reviewed again early next year during FTSE's semi-annual rounds - nevertheless, HRW doesn't seem pleased with that decision.

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