The coalition is a member of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), which includes more than 300 shareholders internationally and uses that leverage to work with companies on social, environmental and governance issues. Most of its members are congregations of women religious.
Sisters are using the U.N.’s "Human Right to Water," which says water should be accessible, safe and affordable to all, as a standard for what they expect from companies.
The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility was the only stakeholder to ask Campbell to take a stance on the human right to water, said Dave Stangis, vice president of corporate responsibility at Campbell.
Shareholders must hold more than $2,000 worth of stock for at least a year before they can file a resolution voted on at the company’s annual meeting.
Tyson has not yet adopted a water stewardship policy that the group has put forth, but Mary Beth Gallagher, executive director of the Tri-State Coalition for Responsible Investment (also a member of the interfaith coalition), said more investors sign on to the resolution every year.
Through the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, Sisters of Mercy also use their power as investors to hold mining companies accountable — namely Freeport-McMoRan and Newmont — as mining affects both contamination of and accessibility to water.
The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility also plans to address leather tannery issues in Bangladesh.
"Sometimes the immediate reaction is to pull out and not use them as suppliers, but that doesn’t help the people in Bangladesh who need jobs," Byron said.
McGrath said the speakers reminded her "to do my best to see what we could do as the Congregation of Notre Dame, becoming part of Blue Community."