Investors Persuade Midwest Utilities To Address Climate Change
/
Seventh Generation Interfaith Coalition for Responsible Investment
Seventh Generation Interfaith (SGI) is a coalition of 40 faith-based and values-driven institutional investors located in the Mid-Western United States. Shareholder proposals have had a major impact on midwestern utility companies. Proposals submitted to the WEC Energy Group and CMS Energy Corporation asked each to publish an assessment of the long term impacts on the company’s portfolio of public policies and technological advances consistent with limiting global warming to no more than two degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels. The proposals were withdrawn upon company commitments and subsequent publishing of scenario analyses, and leading to aggressive GHG reduction goals. (See CMS Energy Climate Assessment Report; WEC Pathway to a Cleaner Energy Future). Engagement with Xcel Energy preceded a groundbreaking announcement of the company’s commitment to zero-carbon electricity by 2050 and publishing of their Carbon Report (Xcel Energy Building a Carbon-free Future). A proposal at MGE Energy, subsequently withdrawn, also led to their announced commitment to net-zero carbon electricity (Wisconsin State Journal, May 14, 2019).