The Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) announced Wednesay that it is now an investor signatory of Climate Action 100+. The Board joins the church committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) as one of more than 320 investor signatories from dozens of countries that manage assets totaling more than $33 trillion.
With eradicating systemic poverty as one of the three goals of the Matthew 25 invitation, Presbyterian Mission Agency Board members took two hours Thursday to hear from a panel what’s being done about it and, around round tables, to discuss poverty’s implications and challenges for congregations, mid councils and other groups.
Despite some heat, a few blisters and at least one case of poison ivy, participants in the PC(USA) Walk for a Fossil Free World are encouraged as they enter the final days of their trek to St. Louis. The walk, a joint project of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship and Fossil Free PCUSA, began June 1 at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville. It ends June 16 at the start of the 223rd General Assembly.
Presbyterian News Service recently submitted questions to Joseph Kinaird, chair of the Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) about the upcoming General Assembly in St. Louis and its continuous discussions with the fossil fuel industry.
With gray and overcast skies above them, a group of 25 to 30 people gathered at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville on Friday morning to begin a two-week trek to St. Louis on foot. The PC(USA) Walk for a Fossil Free World is a joint project of both the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship and Fossil Free PCUSA to stand against investment in the fossil fuel industry.
It’s another major crack in the ceiling. That’s how Rob Fohr, director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Office of Faith-Based Investing, describes progress with Noble Energy Corporation of Houston. Fohr presented a shareholder resolution last month that called for a climate change scenario analysis. This continues the momentum from the 2017 proxy season, which saw record high votes on climate change resolutions including one at ExxonMobil that received 62 percent of the shareholder vote.
The Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) is making final preparations for its recommendations to the 223rd General Assembly. MRTI is a three-agency committee that implements the General Assembly’s policies on faith-based investing.
It’s another major crack in the ceiling. That’s how Rob Fohr, director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Office of Faith-Based Investing, describes progress with Noble Energy Corporation of Houston, Texas. Last week, Fohr presented a shareholder resolution calling for a climate change scenario analysis.
If investors demanded it, would companies change their practices to benefit the environment and slow the effects of global warming? The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Faith-Based Investing and Corporate Engagement believes that this strategy can work, and that companies encouraged to do so may improve their practices through dialogue. The Presbyterian Board of Pensions and the Presbyterian Foundation are helping bolster this effort by paying for an additional staff person in this office. The staff person, Katie Carter, started work in 2017.
The Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) says 2017 was a productive year in its engagement with corporations. MRTI filed or co-filed seven shareholder resolutions in the 2017 proxy season, with oil, gas and utility companies, and one resolution with Wells Fargo.
