Coal and the iron and steel works that consumed it were, 125 years ago, the foundations of Andrew Carnegie’s fortune.(1) So, his life would seem unlikely to hold lessons for investors concerned about global warming. But it does.
Carnegie’s Causes
The Scottish immigrant had two great causes. Most recognize his name today in the US and UK for his philanthropic investments in vehicles offering opportunities for human betterment: Carnegie libraries, university scholarships, Carnegie Hall, Carnegie Mellon University, teacher pensions (TIAA-CREF), etc.
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On February 12, the Unitarian Universalist Association, Walden Asset Management and KLD sponsored a talk by Laura Berry, Executive Director of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR).
I had the privilege of introducing her. These were my remarks.
In introducing my old friend, Laura Berry, I want to state the glaringly obvious: Without ICCR, SRI as we know it wouldn’t exist. It would not exist.
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Reflections from the meeting of the International Working Group (IWG) of the Social Investment Forum, meeting at the Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico, Nov 2-3, 2007.
“We are all indigenous peoples,” said Larson Bill, a leader of the Western Shoshone. “Some of us have preserved the knowledge longer.” He went on to say that “climate change” hit the first peoples of North America in 1492, with the results of destroyed environment and human lives, forced migrations, and cultural devastation.
Larson believes that some indigenous peoples have preserved enough of the knowledge so that there is still time to share it for the sake of all of us now experiencing climate change.
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Time and time again, I see people on my side of the corporate social responsibility debate claim that “originally” corporations only came into existence for a “public purpose”.
Some go on to argue that we should reinstate that qualification. Others think we should assume the requirement still exists and impose higher levels of social responsibility on companies.
While history does not support the claim of a golden age when corporations came into being to serve a “public purpose”, it does not prevent society from imposing one now.
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“Antitrust” is a word that has long outlived its usefulness. We need a new word – or set of words – that captures society’s imperative to regulate economic and social relations with its corporate creations.
Who recalls why we’re against trusts? At least beyond a vague, queasy feeling about collusion, hidden power, price fixing and political corruption…
In the US, business trusts arose in the 1880’s and 90’s to hold controlling interests in corporations. At that time, state laws existed that restricted ownership of corporations to in-state residents, limited the corporation’s ability to do business across state lines, and imposed capitalization restrictions. Since the trusts were not incorporated, however, these restrictions did not apply to them.
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