Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 68.39
Liaison Sam Lubow
Submission Date June 29, 2012
Executive Letter Download

STARS v1.2

Stanford University
PAE-T2-8: Sustainable Investment Policy

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.25 / 0.25 Jiffy Vermylen
Sustainability Coordinator
Sustainability & Energy Management / Office of Sustainability
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Does the institution have a policy, practice or directive to consider the social and/or environmental impacts of investment decisions, in addition to financial considerations?:
Yes

A brief description of the sustainable investment policy:

The Stanford University has an Advisory Panel on Investment Responsibility and Licensing (APIR-L), which advises the Trustees’ Special Committee on Investment Responsibility (SCIR). The APIR-L is comprised of representatives from Stanford’s Community and includes faculty, students, alumni, and senior administrators. The APIR-L: (1) holds an Annual Town Hall Meeting inviting all community members to raise and discuss Investment Responsibility-related social issues; (2) provides a “Request For Review” (RFR) form which goes directly to the APIR-L and is available to all University Community members on its website; and (3) continually monitors core social issues (Diversity/Non-discrimination, Environment, Human Rights, Labor and Miscellaneous) whether contained in Community “RFRs,” shareholder social issue proxy resolutions, or covered in global political, social and/or business news stories. These efforts continue throughout the proxy season as well as the calendar year so that APIR-L and the SCIR can determine and decide whether Stanford’s Statement on Investment Responsibility (IR), and/or its IR Policy Statements and Proxy Voting Guidelines require updating.

The university—operating through the APIR-L and the SCIR—has developed and decided upon certain Investment Responsibility Core Social Issue Policy Statements and Proxy Voting Guidelines which cover and address many current issues, including Environmental Sustainability. Where it has decided upon such a guideline, the University’s Statement on Investment Responsibility directs that the University will “normally vote according to existing University Investment Responsibility Proxy Voting Guidelines.” Stanford has currently identified 15 Environment issue sub-categories: Air Quality; Biotechnology, Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) and Living Modified Organisms (LMO); Board Environmental Oversight; Climate Change; Energy, Alternative Energy, and Arctic Drilling; Fair Trade; Lands (Biodiversity, Indigenous and Local People); Maquilladoras ; Nuclear-related; Risk Linked to Environmental Practices; Sustainable Environmental Practices (Energy Reduction, Land Use, Materials & Natural Resources Use, Material Recycling); Timber (Logging and Old-Growth Forests); Toxics (Chemical, Nuclear, PCBs, Radioactive); Water (Access, Clean Water, Privatization). For example, Stanford has been active since 1998 in implementing a climate change guideline that states the following:

“Stanford votes ‘Yes’ on resolutions requesting [that] companies analyze levels of greenhouse gas emissions, develop action plans to reduce them, report on significant company actions to remediate, reduce and/or eliminate them, and continually assess and report on material impacts caused by company action and/or inaction with respect to greenhouse gas emissions.”

To view the complete Stanford Statement on Investment Responsibility, please visit:
http://apir.stanford.edu


The website URL where information about the policy is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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