DENVER- A majority of The Home Depot shareholders voted on Thursday to take a first step toward reducing the hardware giant’s forest footprint. The resolution, introduced by Green Century Capital Management°, Environment America’s affiliated socially responsible mutual fund company, requests that “Home Depot issue a report assessing if and how it could increase the scale, pace, and rigor of its efforts to eliminate deforestation and the degradation of primary forests in its supply chains.” This action comes a month after The Home Depot’s chief rival, Lowe’s, voluntarily committed to undertaking similar measures.
Pressure had been building on The Home Depot leading up to the shareholder meeting. Environment America Research & Policy Center delivered 21,622 petition signatures calling on the company to ensure that the wood it sells is harvested in a manner that protects boreal forests and other woodlands around the globe that are critical to mitigating climate change.
In response, Public Lands Campaign Associate Sammy Herdman issued the following statement:
“Across the globe, our forests are in trouble. One million acres of the Canadian boreal forest are cut down each year—the equivalent of one and a half football fields every minute – and we lost 27 million acres of tropical forests in 2021 alone. This is a catastrophe for our planet. We need our forests for wildlife habitats and drinking water and as a critical tool in helping us fight climate change.
“We cannot continue this logging at the current pace. As the world’s largest home improvement retailer, The Home Depot can play a huge role in signaling to timber suppliers that it’s time for a change. We’re pleased that a majority of shareholders opted to take on this leadership role and we applaud their decision. We look forward to The Home Depot producing the requested report and then using the information it gathers to make substantive changes to reduce its impact on our invaluable forests.”
Environment America and is not a registered investment adviser. Environment America is not providing any investment advice to any recipient of this communication.
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About Green Century Capital Management
°Green Century Capital Management, Inc. (Green Century) is the investment advisor to the Green Century Funds (The Funds). The Green Century Funds are a family of fossil fuel-free, environmentally-responsible mutual funds. Green Century Capital Management hosts an award-winning and in-house shareholder advocacy program and is the only mutual fund company in the U.S. wholly owned by environmental and public health nonprofit organizations.
*As of March 31, 2022, The Home Depot, Inc. comprised 0.96%, 1.54%, and 0.00%; and Lowe’s Companies, Inc. comprised 0.00%, 0.67%, and 0.00% of the Green Century Balanced Fund, the Green Century Equity Fund and the Green Century International Index Fund, respectively. As of the same date, other securities mentioned were not held in the portfolios of any of the Green Century Funds. References to specific securities, which will change due to ongoing management of the Funds, should not be construed as a recommendation by the Funds, their administrator, or their distributor.
You should carefully consider the Fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses before investing. To obtain a Prospectus that contains this and other information about the Funds please visit www.greencentury.com, email info@greencentury.com, or call 1-800-934-7336. Please read the Prospectus carefully before investing.
Stocks will fluctuate in response to factors that may affect a single company, industry, sector, country, region or the market as a whole and may perform worse than the market. Foreign securities are subject to additional risks such as currency fluctuations, regional economic and political conditions, differences in accounting methods, and other unique risks compared to investing in securities of U.S. issuers. Bonds are subject to a variety of risks including interest rate, credit, and inflation risk. A sustainable investment strategy which incorporates environmental, social and governance criteria may result in lower or higher returns than an investment strategy that does not include such criteria.
This information has been prepared from sources believed reliable. The views expressed are as the date of this writing and are those of the Advisor to the Funds.
The Green Century Funds are distributed by UMB Distribution Services, LLC. 235 W Galena Street, Milwaukee, WI 53212. 5/22
