I couldn't find any apps that use this method to try it with my 3 y/o, so I started working on my own here: https://eguchi.app .
I'd love feedback if anyone is interested in trying it!
Readit Newsemckay commented on Morons Funding the Fight Against Morons nearlyfreespeech.net/abou... · Posted by u/Tomte
Another similar idea is mission hedging.
If there is a company that you believe is causing some harm, you can buy shares of that company and donate any proceeds to a charity that cancels out that harm.
For example, if you are worried about climate change, you can buy shares of an oil company and pledge to donate the proceeds to an organization lobbying for a carbon tax.
If the oil company does well, the carbon tax lobby will need more financing, which you'll be in a position to provide as a shareholder of the oil company.
This idea was developed by economist Brigitte Roth Tran: https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/feds/files/2017042pap... .
Hauke Hillebrandt also has a great write up: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/iZp7TtZdFyW8eT5dA/...
emckay commented on Fossil fuel divestment has ‘zero’ climate impact, says Bill Gates ft.com/content/21009e1c-d... · Posted by u/melling
This seems like a great idea in theory- potentially better than the so-called luxury ETFs that only invest in what the fund manager deems as socially-responsible companies. If your expense ratios are low, and you allow me to have a meaningful say in how I or the fund as a whole votes for better climate outcomes, I would be personally interested.
I'd love see how you guys do it, and will be following your progress.
Exactly! Thanks for the kind words.
emckay commented on Fossil fuel divestment has ‘zero’ climate impact, says Bill Gates ft.com/content/21009e1c-d... · Posted by u/melling
We are also working on this problem.
At yourstake.org, we're trying to help anyone create change by making use of your shareholder rights. We're try to simplify the process to be as easy as an online petition.
You can sync your portfolio just like with other personal finance sites (e.g. Mint.com) and leverage your rights in whatever funds you already have. If you have a 401k, you have rights.
Also happy to talk to you offline about shareholder engagement. There are actually a number of funds that prioritize shareholder engagement -- you can see some rankings at another project I've been involved with: www.realimpacttracker.com.
I'm (patrick) @ yourstake.org
Awesome projects! I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'll shoot you an email tomorrow.
emckay commented on Fossil fuel divestment has ‘zero’ climate impact, says Bill Gates ft.com/content/21009e1c-d... · Posted by u/melling
Divestment also results in less shareholder oversight of emission heavy companies because environmentally conscious investors are selling their shares to investors with less scruples.
This isn't just theoretical.
According to Fossil Free, asset managers with about 10 trillion under management have committed to divesting.
If you assume 10% of that is tracking something like the S&P 500, then these investors have sold about 80 million shares of Chevron.
In 2018, shareholders introduced a proposal asking Chevron to limit its methane emissions. That proposal failed with 46% of the vote.
80 million shares would have been enough to swing the vote to 54% in favor.
I quit my job a couple of months ago to fix this problem. You can learn more at greengovernance.org or by emailing me at (hn username)@greengovernance.org
(typed this from my phone on a plane but I will add citations later when I get to my computer)
Here are the promised citations:
1. $10 trillion divested: https://gofossilfree.org/divestment/commitments/
2. Chevron's shareholder proposal: https://www.asyousow.org/resolutions/2017/12/31/chevron-corp...
3. Chevron makes up about 1% of the S&P 500. 1% * 10% * $10 trillion = $100 million = 78 million shares of CVX at price during 2018 shareholder meeting
4. If 78 million shares voted YES on proposal instead of NO, vote would have passed with 52% in favor (as opposed to 54% in original post)
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Also, for those interested in other arguments against divestment:
1. Economics Nobel Laureate Oliver Hart wrote a paper calling on companies to maximize shareholder "welfare" (including environmental concerns) not just financial value. In this paper he explicitly calls for a fund that uses engagement rather than divestment. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3004794
2. Luigi Zingales (co-author of above paper) calls on UChicago graduates not to divest, but to engage in his 2019 convocation address: https://promarket.org/dear-graduates-heres-what-you-can-do-t...
3. In the New Yorker, philosopher William MacAskill goes into more detail than Bill Gates on why divestment is ineffective: https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/does-divestment-...
emckay commented on Fossil fuel divestment has ‘zero’ climate impact, says Bill Gates ft.com/content/21009e1c-d... · Posted by u/melling
Let's say that it passed. Is Chevron now legally obliged to actually limit their methane emissions, or can they ignore it if they so choose?
Resolutions like this one are non-binding. The real power held by shareholders is to fire directors, so if a company's board doesn't comply with the shareholder resolution the shareholders can vote against the directors at the next annual meeting.
In practice, companies "mostly meet" or "completely met" their commitments in response to shareholder engagement 89% of the time according to a 2015 report by Ceres [0].
[0] https://www.ceres.org/sites/default/files/reports/2017-03/Ce...
emckay commented on Fossil fuel divestment has ‘zero’ climate impact, says Bill Gates ft.com/content/21009e1c-d... · Posted by u/melling
Could you talk a bit more about your company?
We're creating an S&P 500 index fund that aggressively uses shareholder engagement to get companies to reduce emissions through their supply chains.
emckay commented on Fossil fuel divestment has ‘zero’ climate impact, says Bill Gates ft.com/content/21009e1c-d... · Posted by u/melling
Divestment also results in less shareholder oversight of emission heavy companies because environmentally conscious investors are selling their shares to investors with less scruples.
This isn't just theoretical.
According to Fossil Free, asset managers with about 10 trillion under management have committed to divesting.
If you assume 10% of that is tracking something like the S&P 500, then these investors have sold about 80 million shares of Chevron.
In 2018, shareholders introduced a proposal asking Chevron to limit its methane emissions. That proposal failed with 46% of the vote.
80 million shares would have been enough to swing the vote to 54% in favor.
I quit my job a couple of months ago to fix this problem. You can learn more at greengovernance.org or by emailing me at (hn username)@greengovernance.org
(typed this from my phone on a plane but I will add citations later when I get to my computer)
Different levels of Montessori authenticity make the results even more impressive. They do have some inclusion criteria, like 2/3 of the teachers must be AMI/AMS certified but even so I'd expect a lot of these public school montessori programs to be less "true montessori" than what you'd get at a fully certified AMI/AMS school.