Boardwalk Portfolios: Top Rankings for Ethics and Climate

Last month, global watchdog Ethisphere released its World's Most Ethical Companies list.  This month, research firm Maplecroft disclosed its Climate Innovation Index.  In both cases, Boardwalk's model portfolio holdings were well represented.

Among those considered most ethical, General Electric and Starbucks have made the grade for all six years of the study's existence. 

UPS, Cisco, Intel, Alcoa, and Pepsico were also among the domestic honorees in our models, while Accenture (Ireland), National Grid (UK) and Westpac Banking (Australia) were among the foreign holdings recognized.

The Carbon Innovation Index recognizes companies who "successfully innovate and manage climate-related opportunities and risks and are better equipped to operate in this future growth environment." Many of the same "ethical" companies are also making a serious effort to prepare for climate change.  Boardwalk holdings GE, Alcoa, Intel, Hess, Praxair and Ford are among the top ten ranked firms.

For more on the Boardwalk model portfolios click Global ESG Titans or ESG 50 USA.

Mounting Challenges for the World's Food Supply

With an expanding and increasingly urban, meat consuming world population, how will farming co-exist with climate change and water/energy/land scarcity?

Agriculture already consumes 70% of the world's water supply.  And by 2030, farmers will need 45% more water to feed the almost 9 billion people on the planet by then.  Where will it come from? 

Meanwhile, food production, and getting food to the consumer, both use vast amounts of energy.  And traditional energy sources aren't getting cheaper.  These inputs, and more volatile weather, are resulting in large fluctuations in food prices.  And as the author points out, this has often been associated with social unrest.

As a society, how will we deal with this issue?

There is much food for thought in the attached article from Environmental Leader.  Well worth a read.

My Sustainability Talk with Corporate America

Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of addressing the Atlanta chapter of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) on the subject of sustainability. Investor relations reps are a company's connection to its shareholders -- answering investor questions, providing information, etc. It is hardly glamorous work, but requires a great deal of effort, and knowledge, to do it well.

Increasingly, questions come to them from investors like Boardwalk, asking about emissions, water usage, diversity, etc.  And many IR representatives are doing a yeoman's job of trying to meet the disparate needs of the investor community. At the end of the day, however, if your company is doing little to address the core issues that bother your shareholders, there ain't much that a pretty face or articulate voice are going to do to fix that.

The good news is that many companies are doing much more, and are using "sustainability" to improve nearly every aspect of their business.