- Who We Are
- What We Do
- What You Can Do
- Resources
Pursuing Shareholder Advocacy and Corporate Accountability
An important part of the strategy of the Environmental Justice Program is tohold corporate elites accountable for water injustices. Working together with NorthStar Asset Management,UUSC has made important advances in pressuring private water utilitiesand beverage and electronics companies to address the human right towater in their operations.
Got Water? is a campaign to ensure sustainable access to safe, sufficient, affordable water to every person by enshrining the human right to water into law — internationally, nationally, statewide, and locally. Learn more about our campaign.
In 2008, UUSC partnered with NorthStar to file a shareholder resolution withPepsiCo, asking the beverage giant to adopt a human-right-to-water policy inits domestic and overseas operations. Although PepsiCo challenged theresolution with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), UUSCand NorthStar's resolution prevailed, earning 7 percent of the vote at theMay 2008 PepsiCo Annual Shareholders' Meeting. In 2009, NorthStar, withtechnical assistance from UUSC, negotiated with PepsiCo a groundbreakingpolicy that implements the human right to water, as defined by the UnitedNations.
NorthStar has also taken on the electronics industry, presenting an INTEL shareholderresolution to adopt a human-right-to-water policy. Intel challenged theresolution with the SEC, and failed. The resolution will be voted on in thespring of 2009. The electronics industry has a tremendous impact on waterresources - both by overextracting and polluting water resources in thecountries in which they operate, affecting whole communities.
Featured stories about corporate accountability
|
Earlier this month, the U.N. Human Rights Council adopted a resolution that establishes an expert working group to address human rights in business practices.
|
||
