As You Sow created the Racial Justice Initiative (RJI) in June 2020 following George Floyd’s murder. We then developed the Racial Justice Scorecard applying 27 key performance indicators (KPI) to the top 1000 companies to track and monitor corporate progress on racial equity. Environmental justice was addressed in four of the KPIs on Environmental fines and violations 2016-present and the adverse effects to BIPOC communities though a sector analysis of litigation from 2010-present. The incorporation of these KPIs and an Environmental Justice Framework for our research began a new focus at As You Sow and led directly to shareholder work on this issue.

The programmatic goal for our Racial and Environmental Justice work is to elevate community voices to C-suite management and boards of directors at public companies throughout the United States and inspire companies to change their unjust environmental practices and policies, thereby reducing systemic harm. We exert inside pressure on corporate management through shareholder advocacy framed by compelling community stories and, where possible, informed by health data.

Often, companies have no “business-case rationale” to listen to the communities negatively affected by their operations and no incentives to act. As shareholders, we have legal standing to engage the executives and boards of these public companies. We can carry the community message to management, reframe company inaction as a material business risk and drive rapid change through direct engagement, escalating to formal shareholder resolutions if necessary.

In the 2022 proxy season, As You Sow combined our climate and racial justice work to promote climate justice working directly with communities affected by companies. We overlaid the Racial Justice and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Scorecards with our climate work to find fossil fuel companies that scored poorly on environmental justice and had direct negative impacts on BIPOC communities.

Our research led us to engage with Kinder Morgan, the largest U.S. pipeline company, working with the Dutchtown South Community Corporation (DSCC) and Great Rivers Environmental Law. Dutchtown residents have long been plagued by adverse health effects from a nearby Kinder Morgan facility and had been unable to get a meeting with Kinder Morgan representatives.

We filed our first Climate Justice resolution in November 2021, and the company responded, conducting multiple dialogues with our team. Kinder Morgan acknowledged the importance of direct community engagement in relation to environmental injustice. We negotiated a withdrawal agreement in February 2022. The withdrawal terms stated that Kinder Morgan would conduct ongoing meetings with Dutchtown South and community representatives to discuss environmental injustice and would create an updated webpage on its corporate website to provide accessible and direct resources to communities in similar situations. Kinder Morgan representatives have also brought the local mayor, congressperson and senator into the talks and provided a $10,000 donation to the St. Louis Public Schools and their “Green Schoolyard” initiative.

The resolution demonstrated that environmental injustice issues are a material risk to corporate brand reputation that comes from increased public awareness. By leveraging As You Sow’s power as shareholder advocates, we are motivating companies to transition toward an environmentally just business model.

Olivia Knight
Racial Justice Initiative Manager, As You Sow