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Goldman Sachs Heeds Faith-based Investors April 16th, 2012

Goldman Sachs, one of the world’s most powerful financial firms, has been forced to pay attention to faith-based shareholder advocacy.

The Rev. Seamus Finn, OMI, Director of the OMI JPIC Office was quoted in a recent Wall Street Journal article: “It’s been a difficult transition for …[Goldman to figure] out how to be a public company.” The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate owns 286,000 shares of Goldman, and agreed after discussions with the firm’s investor-relations chief Dane Holmes to withdraw its proposal focused on Goldman’s practices with clients and tax secrecy. Fr. Seamus explained, “They finally recognized that we’re not going away and they have to at least engage us.”

Father Finn has met in the past with John F.W. Rogers, Goldman’s board secretary, with Mr. Blankfein and Goldman’s president, Gary D. Cohn.

Read the article…

Faith and Values-Inspired Investments April 16th, 2012

Both the Jewish and Christian communities from their earliest documents display a debate about the foundational questions of ownership, agency, interest and usury. The Holy Quran also offers some unique teachings. Fr. Finn’s blog on Huffington Post reflects on discussions at the Tenth Harvard University Forum on Islamic Finance, and looks at the relationship between faith-consistent (FCI) and socially responsible investing (SRI).

Read the blog no Huffington post…

Connecticut State Senators Repeal Death Penalty Law April 9th, 2012

On April 5, the Connecticut State Senate voted 20 -16 in favor of repeal of the state’s death penalty law. The bill would replace the death penalty with life in prison without the possibility of parole as the state’s harshest punishment for future crimes. The legislation would not affect sentences of the 11 inmates currently on Connecticut’s death row.

The bill now goes to the Connecticut House of Representatives, where it is considered to have a high level of support, and then to Governor who has said he would sign it into law.

Other states have passed similar measures; among them are Illinois, New Mexico and New Jersey. In California, faith leaders are leading a campaign to gather enough signatures for an initiative to throw out the death penalty by voters on the November ballot.

The Catholic Conference of Connecticut and Religious communities are pleased with the passage of the repeal of the death penalty. The Conference is engaging in a campaign through its website and in advocacy messages in parish bulletins asking parishioners to contact their elected representatives, requesting that they support the bill.

 

Corporations Make Strides in Conserving Water April 9th, 2012

Two companies, which the Missionary Oblates and other members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), have engaged in long-term corporate dialogs, have adopted important water-use reduction and management goals.

The Coca-Cola Company has announced a goal of becoming water neutral in their direct operations by 2020, and has taken a leadership role in corporate water management efforts. Coca Cola released its fifth annual Global Water Stewardship and Replenish Report on World Water Day (March 22nd). The company also recently released its first GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) report, an important move to increase transparency of data on its sustainability efforts.

Ford Motor Company recently announced plans to cut the amount of water used to make each of its vehicles by 30 percent, as of 2015, compared with the amount of water used in 2009. Under its Global Water Management Initiative adopted in 2000, the company had already reduced water use per vehicle by 62% as of 2010. Ford has recognized water as a material issue, along with other environmental, human rights and financial impacts on the corporation, and has identified water as one of its top priorities. Operating as it does in a number of water-stressed areas, the car manufacturer is investing in technologies that make its manufacturing processes less water intensive, as well as technologies for treating and reusing wastewater.

The Missionary Oblates JPIC Office has increasingly focused on water in its faith-consistent investment work as a vital issue affecting the health and well being of people across the globe, but especially the poor living in water-stressed and water scarce areas.

 

 

 

April Newbrief from the JPIC Commission Office in Rome April 5th, 2012

The Commission for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation USG/UISG Secretariat has issued their Newsbrief for April. The newsletter is available in English and Spanish. Useful resources given on mining, land grabbing, water and more…

• Download the April Newsbrief in English
• Descargue el Newsbrief abril en español

 

 

Land Grabs in Africa Leave Communities Impoverished April 5th, 2012

The problem of land grabbing in Africa and Asia by investment firms and multinational corporations is a serious and growing problem. Governments make deals with large multinational companies while thousands of poor farmers are left with inadequate compensation, low wages, polluted water and exposure to toxic agricultural chemicals that cause health problems.

While problems with land grabs abound, SOCFIN Agriculture. Co. is a particularly egregious company. Owned by French billionaire Vincent Bollore, SOCFINAF Group owns and operates plantations of rubber, oil palm and coffee in Indonesia, Cambodia, Kenya, Cameroon, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and Liberia. SOCFIN recently has secured 6,500 hectares of farmland for rubber/palm oil production in Sierra Leone.

The Oakland Institute, a California-based think-tank, has detailed a pattern of coercion, lack of consultation, and failure to fairly compensate Sierra Leonean landowners who have been pressured into ceding their land to the corporate giant. Watch this video on SOCFIN’s Sierra Leone’s operations:

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