D068 Criteria and Procedures for Deciding to Engage with or Establish a No Buy List of Companies
Resolved, the House of ________________ concurring,
That the 79th General Convention requests Executive Council to ask its Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility, in consultation with, among others, those in the Church engaged with concerns for human rights and with concerns for the care of creation, to develop and propose to Executive Council for its review and adoption:
(a) criteria by which the Church may assess the Church’s investments in companies that the Church finds to be inconsistent with the Church’s faith and mission or questionable under the Church’s ethical teaching, and criteria by which the Church may evaluate the effectiveness of efforts to engage with such companies and the effectiveness of divestment through creation of a No Buy list from such companies, and
(b) procedures for the Church to follow in making a decision to engage companies or to establish a No Buy list; and be it
Resolved, That this work be completed by CCSR by March of 2020 for consideration and action by Executive Council in that year.
Explanation
The Church has monitored its investments for social performance at least since 1971 when the Church presented a shareholder resolution to General Motors asking GM to withdraw from South Africa and its racist system of apartheid. Over the years the Church as investor has addressed with numerous companies a variety of issues in both the domestic and global spheres, including, for example, racism, human and civil rights, workers’ rights, human trafficking, gun safety, and climate change and the environment. Sometimes the Church has engaged with the companies and sometimes the Church has divested from the companies. Circumstances may change. New issues may arise. Moreover, the Church’s understanding of its faith and mission, and its ethical teaching, may change over time as the Church grows in discernment. This resolution would help the Church determine whether to engage with companies in which it may invest or not invest through creation of a No Buy list, by calling for the development of criteria and procedures for such determinations.