Brad Ewing's Page

An interesting article in the Guardian this week discusses the current shareholder "revolt" at Exxon over its approach to climate change. The article, by Andrew Clark, is found below: "A shareholder revolt at ExxonMobil led by the billionaire Rockefeller family has won the support of four significant British institutional investors who will call on Monday for a shakeup in the governance of the world's biggest oil compan… Continue

In an effort to appeal to consumers concerned about environmental waste and global warming, Pepsi announced this week that it is reducing the amount of plastic it uses in bottles of some nonsoda drinks. For instance, the company is slimming its half-liter Aquafina water bottle to 13.2 grams from 15 grams. While initiatives like this are a positive move, I think Gigi Kellett says it well in the WSJ article, saying: "Less plastic doesn't increase the rate of recycling...and it does not reduce the… Continue

Days after it revealed it had earned $7.7bn profit in the first quarter of 2008, Shell announced that it had decided to put its one-third stake in the £2bn London Array project , the world's largest proposed offshore wind farm, up for sale. Friends of the Earth campaigner Nick Rau said, "We're very disappointed that Shell...is pulling out of the London Array. It should be investing in renewable energy, not sucking fossil fuels out of the ground." With the costs of building offshore wind farms h… Continue

The New York Times has a good article on the growing prominence of microfinance in Mexico, and the debate which has arisen as more providers have entered the market: "how far should microfinance go toward becoming big business?" Microlending advocates such as Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus say that success is threatened by the increase in microlenders using a market-oriented model, with its emphasis on investor returns. The article discusses Compartamos, an organization that started as a non… Continue

The Financial Times reports today that US Airways and SouthWest Airlines are both facing resolutions that call on them to report on strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, part of 54 climate change-related resolutions filed by investors this year. Other companies, such as Best Buy, RiteAid, Kroger and Standard Pacific and Centex are also being asked to give details of their efforts to assess and reduce their output of greenhouse gas. Mindy Lubber of Ceres, a non-profit partnership of… Continue