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Our Social and Environmental Criteria
Avoidance
Screens:
From the late 1920s, when modern socially responsible investing got its start, SRI has had at its core the principle of avoiding ownership in companies which inflict social harm. The ethical position is straightforward: the investor does not profit from financial participation in environmentally or socially destructive practices.
Clean Yield systematically examines companies' social responsibility. No company is even close to perfect, and neither, admittedly, is social responsibility research. Social and environmental virtue cannot be measured in black or white and the shades of gray are sometimes highly subjective.
Recognizing that social responsibility judgments have limitations, Clean Yield adheres to certain minimum standards for all companies in its universe.
Clean Yields Major Avoidance Screens:
No material involvement in gambling, alcohol or tobacco.
No military weapons; no material dependency on military contracts (greater than 2% of corporate revenues) except for companies engaged in environmental clean-up.
No nuclear power generation.
No use of animal testing for cosmetics.
No business dealings in countries where a recognized, citizen-led movement is calling for divestment to combat government-sanctioned human rights abuse.
Positive
Screens:
Investors who avoid a particular company have little leverage to change the company's behavior (except when part of a massive divestment campaign, such as the 1980s movement to isolate apartheid South Africa). By contrast, investments directed toward outstanding companies can create measurable demand and may reward those companies with a stock price premium.
A Sample of Clean Yield's Positive Screens
Products having positive environmental or social impacts.Clean EPA record and commitment to source reduction/re-use of materials.Community support through charitable giving in the host communities.Women and minorities well represented on the board and in top line positions.Same-sex domestic-partner fringe benefits equal to spousal benefitsLiving wage paid to all employees, in the U.S. and abroad.Full and frank disclosure of environmental and social responsibility record.Executive compensation at, or below, the norm for similarly situated firms.
A few companies in the Clean Yield universe:
| Advent Software | A. G. Edwards | Alza |
| Ameritech | Apple Computer | Aquarion |
| Ben & Jerrys | Boston Acoustics | Brady (W.H.) |
| Church & Dwight | Cisco Systems | CLARCOR |
| Computer Task Group | Dionex | Equitable Resources |
| Fannie Mae | Green Mtn. Coffee | Interface, Inc. |
| Kendle International | Lincoln National | Maytag |
| Pitney Bowes | Smucker (J.M.) | Tennant |
| United Natural Foods | Whole Foods Market | Wainwright Bank |
