My Nonprofit Reviews

I became acquainted with Ceres nearly 20 years ago, when I got a job at a sustainable investing firm. Ceres' work then was carried out by a handful of staff, but it was enormously far-sighted. Focusing on the investment risks and rewards of sustainability variables like climate change, pollution and human rights, the organization built a platform that some of the largest asset owners and large asset managers now stand on, along with the smaller SRI asset managers. That big platform has an enormous megaphone now, such that when investors file shareholder proposals at major oil companies asking them to reexamine business plans in light of the need to keep warming below 2C, those shareholder resolutions are passed by a majority of shareholders, for the first time ever. When Ceres first proposed to mobilize investor voices and votes for sustainability, I was certain their ambition exceeded their reach. I couldn't have been more wrong. Now, they are expanding their reach to include deforestation, water, human rights, diversity, and many other efforts, and all of these are, not coincidentally, moving into mainstream investing. Without Ceres, it's hard to imagine that this would be happening.