Shareholder advocacy

How we do it

Aspiring for a better world

As shareholders, we are part owners of companies. This means we can talk to the companies we own, and ask them about their policies and practices. Praxis believes it is our responsibility to encourage companies toward responsible business behavior.

Our focus

We are currently working with companies on issues of environmental sustainability, modern slavery – also known as human trafficking – and inequality.

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Magnifying our voice

By working together with like-minded organizations, such as the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility, we show that many people are interested in the issue.

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Meaningful action

Communication with executives, board members and governments happens through shareholder resolutions, direct dialogue and coalition work.

Current advocacy initiatives

We center our shareholder advocacy work around three main topics. We partner with organizations associated with ICCR and Ceres to form coalitions that give weight to the positions we urge companies toward.

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Environmental sustainability

We believe God calls us to be faithful stewards of all God has entrusted us. In this topic, we focus on climate change and toxic chemicals.

Aerial view of rows of vegetation on a tea plantation

Addressing inequality

Inequality is a long-term problem and its roots can be traced to many sources. The effects of inequality can lead to distrust and even breakdown within societies. We are engaging companies in three areas of inequality: gender, race and economic.

Responsibility engagements

These engagements are not included within our primary focus issues but they reflect our responsibility to address a wide range of social concerns related to our holdings in the Praxis funds.

Environmental sustainability

Issue	Company	Latest engagement
Climate change – utilities	American Electric Power	June 2022 Dialogue with AEP on climate change and policy. Discussed greenhouse gas reductions, coal plan retirements, capital expenditures, climate lobbying and opportunities relating to the electrification of the economy.
Climate change – utilities	Duke Energy	June 2022 Dialogue with Duke on their net-zero commitment, coal phaseout plan, Integrated Resource Plan process and policy considerations.
Climate change – utilities	Southern Company	March 2022 Southern released an ESG update that incorporates many of the issues Praxis and other shareholders encouraged the company document including net-zero goals, climate lobbying, Just Transition, and board independence.
Climate change – oil and gas	ConocoPhillips	April 2022 Dialogue with COP on climate change including the company’s climate alignment with its capital expenditures, climate lobbying and trade associations, and its progress on its net-zero commitment. The dialogue also touched on indigenous rights.
Climate change - proxy voting	ISS	Oct. 2021 Joined investor letter to ISS, expressing concern that the proxy service provider’s baseline policy doesn’t adequately factor in the risks of climate change with its recommendations.
Climate change – oil sands	Numerous banks	Feb. 2022 Signed on to investor statement to financiers of Enbridge Line 3 and other oil sands projects. The statement serves as an urgent signal to banks that these projects demonstrate multiple legal, environmental, and human rights risks without a social license to operate from affected Indigenous Peoples.
Climate-related financial risk	Department of Labor	May 2022 Signed on to US SIF’s comment letter responding to the Department of Labor’s Request for Information on climate risks in retirement and pension plans.
Climate change		Oct. 2021 Joined the 2021 Global Investor Statement to Governments on the Climate Crisis, the strongest ever call by global investors for governments to raise their climate ambition and implement meaningful policies to support investment in solutions to the climate crisis.
Climate change		Oct. 2021 Joined the Hoosier Interfaith Power and Light (HIPL) Faith Climate Declaration. The declaration lists the impacts that climate change has on our communities and especially the most vulnerable people and commits the signatories to act towards a regenerative economy.
Climate change - just transition		Dec. 2021 Signed onto a statement of investor expectations for job standards and community impacts to ensure a just transition to a decarbonized economy.
Antibiotics	McDonald's	May 2022 Dialogue with McDonald’s on establishing policies to reduce the use of medically important antibiotics throughout its global beef and pork supply chains.
Deforestation	Lawmakers	April 2022 Signed on to investor statement in support of the Fostering Overseas Rule of Law and Environmentally Sound Trade (FOREST) Act. The law would provide investors with important information on material financial and climate related risks to companies potentially linked to deforestation.
Oil drilling in artic refuge	Insurance companies	June 2022 Signed on to letter written by the Gwich'in Steering Committee, asking insurance companies not to insure companies drilling in the Arctic Refuge.
Vehicle emissions	Lawmakers	April 2022 Joined a letter to California lawmakers in support of an ambitious Advanced Clean Fleet regulation that accelerates electric vehicle deployment at the pace and scale that the climate and public health crises demand.
SEC Climate Rules	SEC	June 2022 Submitted Praxis commentary to the SEC on the proposed SEC Climate Disclosure Rule, generally supporting the rules while offering suggestions for improvement.
Plastic pollution		Jan. 2022 Joined investor statement calling for a global treaty on plastic pollution. Unsustainable plastic production, consumption, and waste continues to accelerate at an alarming rate. This statement supports efforts to find a global, harmonized, binding solution to plastic pollution.

Addressing inequality

Issue	Company	Latest engagement
Paid sick leave	Best Buy	April 2022 Dialogue with Best Buy concerning its paid sick leave policies. Gained clarification on the companies PSL program and advocated for more generous PSL to full and part time employees.
Paid sick leave	FedEx	May 2022 Dialogue with FedEx to learn the company’s detailed PSL policies. Discussion also included the effect of worker classification on PSL, employee feedback and PSL usage statistics.
Paid sick leave	Home Depot	Feb. 2022 Withdrew shareholder resolution on paid sick leave in response to the company putting policies in place and making them more publicly accessible to stakeholders and investors seeking to assess key social issues in companies
Paid sick leave	ODP Corporation	May 2022 Dialogue with ODP included the details of the company’s PSL policies including benefits by worker classification, usage rates, potential penalties and the effect of PSL on employee retention.
Paid sick leave	Dozens of companies	Dec. 2021 Joined an investor effort to engage dozens of service industry companies on disclosure of their paid sick leave benefits for U.S. workers and the advantages of providing paid sick leave to all employees.
Racial equity	Amazon	April 2022 Withdrew shareholder proposal calling for a racial equity audit after the company agreed to conduct an independent audit led by former US Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
Racial equity	Walmart	Dec. 2021 Co-filed shareholder proposal on starting pay and racial equity. The proposal requests that the board of directors oversee a public report on whether and how Walmart's racial justice goals and commitments align with the starting pay for all classifications of Walmart associates.
Racial equity and human rights policy	Target	June 2022 Dialogue with the company on worker equity and benefits, diversity and inclusion, and human rights in the supply chain. Target is in the process of building an internal supply chain traceability team to provide better human rights due diligence.
Human rights policy	General Mills	April 2022 Post-dialogue letter sent to General Mills regarding the UN Guiding Principles, the company’s salient human rights issues, and its human rights policies.
Human trafficking	Delta Airlines	June 2022 Dialogue with Delta focusing on the company’s efforts to address human trafficking, including employee training, victim care, and partnerships with NGOs and survivor-led organizations.
Online child exploitation	AT&T	Jan. 2022 Dialogue with AT&T on its efforts to combat child sexual exploitation online. Conversation focused on its child rights risk assessment, governance and oversight, employee training, and partnerships and collaborations.
Online child exploitation	Verizon	June 2022 Dialogue with Verizon on its efforts to combat child sexual exploitation online; conversation focused on its child rights risk assessment, governance and oversight, employee training, and partnerships and collaborations.
Empowering communities	Bank of America	Feb. 2022 Dialogue with Bank of America on empowering communities, clients, and employees. The discussion also covered an update on BAC’s climate strategy and its digital assets (including cryptocurrency) policies.
COVID-19 – Vaccine pricing and accessibility	Johnson & Johnson	Nov. 2021 Co-filed shareholder proposal that asks for a report on how Johnson & Johnson’s receipt of government financial support for the development and manufacture of vaccines and therapeutics for COVID-19 is being taken into account when engaging in conduct that affects access to these products, such as setting prices.
Conflict minerals	Semiconductor industry	Nov. 2021 Signed on to investor letter on conflict minerals, encouraging individual companies within different parts of the semiconductor supply chain to address responsible sourcing of minerals.
Addressing inequality – finance		March 2022 Joined in launching the Task Force on Inequality-related Financial Disclosures which aims to reduce inequality created by the private sector by improving transparency on corporate and investor contributions to inequality, while showing how inequality can present risks to companies and investors.

Responsibility engagements

Issue	Company	Latest engagement
War in Ukraine		May 2022 Joined investor statement on the crisis in Ukraine. The statement strongly condemns the Russian military invasion and ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine. It also states unequivocal support for the Ukrainian people, their protections under international humanitarian law, and their recognized rights to life, freedom, democracy, and territorial integrity.
Tax transparency		Feb. 2022 Signed investor letter to the SEC in support of a shareholder proposal at Amazon asking for tax reporting using the GRI tax standard, which would lead to better corporate tax transparency but which the company has challenged.
Sudan		Nov. 2021 Joined investor statement on the coup in Sudan to send the message that the responsible investment and business communities seek to invest and operate in countries where the rule of law, accountable governance and civic freedoms are respected.

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