RALEIGH, NC – Representatives of Boston Common Asset Management, the Brethren Benefit Trust (BBT), and CERES met with executives of Progress Energy at company headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina to discuss the company’s forthcoming climate change report. The report will be published in March 2006 as a result of a shareholder proposal filed by Boston Common on behalf of BBT and co-filed by the City of New York. Representatives of the shareholder group reviewed a draft of the forthcoming report and also toured the company’s largest coal-fired power plant to benchmark its environment and safety mechanisms. The shareholder group made a number of recommendations, including expanding consideration of renewable energy possibilities and strengthening the company’s demand-side management programs to reduce customer energy use.
This initiative represents an extension of Boston Common’s ongoing advocacy focus on global warming. Boston Common was also the primary filer of a climate change resolution with Apache Corporation in 2004, receiving a record 37% vote in favor in May 2005.
