Study: Funds aren't on Board for Global Warming Resolutions

January 26, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Seven out of 10 US mutual fund investors want their funds to back global warming shareholder resolutions, according to a new survey.

However, despite that apparent support, none of the nation’s 100 largest mutual funds voted in favor of any 33 climate change proxy measures during 2005, according to  a news release .  

The new Ceres report said the study found:

  • Three out of four mutual fund investors (74%) want their “mutual fund to ask questions about the potential impact of global warming on the companies in which they are investing your money.”
  • Seven in 10 mutual fund investors (71%) said they would not “invest directly in a company that is a major source of pollution linked to global warming, whether from its operations or the products it produces.”
  • About four in five mutual fund investors (79%) “think that companies should analyze the long-term financial impacts that global warming will have on their businesses and on the potential value of their stock to people who either own shares directly or indirectly through a mutual fund.”

The Ceres-commissioned report analyzed how the mutual funds voted their shareholder proxies at last year’s corporate annual meetings.

The survey results were based on telephone interviews conducted among 2,034 adults (1,013 men and 1,021 women) age 18 and over, living in private households, in the continental United States.

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