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Domini Social Investments will invest in energy, but not nuclear

Before nuclear power can be seriously considered to be an effective answer to climate change, we need to solve the nuclear waste problem and we need to address the link between nuclear power and nuclear weapons proliferation.

To date there is no way to distinguish between the uranium enrichment process that is necessary to fuel a nuclear power plant and the enrichment of uranium for use in a nuclear bomb.

Domini does believe that companies with stronger social and environmental profiles should perform better in the long term, and that the use of social and environmental factors can help manage certain types of investment risk.

Social funds: BP, the 1960s, and greed | The Energy Collective, August 16, 2010 by Marc Gunther“.…..I heard from Adam Kanzer, who is managing director and general counsel at Domini Social Investments.…..…many Socially Responsible Investment  funds have their roots in the anti-war movement of the 1960s and 1970s as well as in faith-based investing. So funds like Domini exclude companies that make weapons, alcohol, tobacco and nuclear power. ……

Adam:   First, it is important to understand that we divide those industries into two general categories – companies that provide addictive products and services, and companies whose products contribute to geopolitical instability. We place military weapons manufacturers and nuclear power in the latter category. We do not consider investments in addiction and global instability to be productive uses of capital.
National defense is too important to be placed in the hands of the same system that brought us the financial crisis. When Eisenhower issued his warnings about the growth of the military-industrial complex,

……There are also categories of weapons that violate international humanitarian law because they cannot distinguish between military and civilian targets. These include landmines, clusterbombs and nuclear weapons. These ‘products’ make the world more dangerous…….As investors, we have a responsibility to choose wisely. Our Funds’ shareholders choose not to profit from these violations, so we exclude these manufacturers and companies that manufacture nuclear weapons delivery systems………

Before nuclear power can be seriously considered to be an effective answer to climate change, we need to solve the nuclear waste problem and we need to address the link between nuclear power and nuclear weapons proliferation.

To date there is no way to distinguish between the uranium enrichment process that is necessary to fuel a nuclear power plant and the enrichment of uranium for use in a nuclear bomb.

This is an issue that Amory Lovins raised decades ago, and it has only increased in importance since then. The risks and the upfront costs of nuclear power are still, in our view, far too high. I believe this is still the ‘mainstream’ view among environmentalists………..
We do invest in energy companies, such as AGL (Australia), EOG and Noble.. We have also approved utilities, such as National Grid, but evaluate the source of the energy……….
We have never made any claims that SRI will always outperform. There are times when greed, dishonesty and environmental destruction pays. The market does not consistently reward responsibility, or punish irresponsibility…..

We do believe that social and environmental factors are financially material and can help us to identify better long-term investments, but the market is not always going to reward these particular characteristics.

Second, we need to begin a more important conversation about what it means to earn a ‘responsible’ rate of return. What are the appropriate benchmarks? Why do I need to demonstrate that I can outperform a benchmark dominated by polluters and human rights violators?………..

we at Domini invest to achieve a combination of the two—both the social/environmental benefits and the financial return.

Domini does believe that companies with stronger social and environmental profiles should perform better in the long term, and that the use of social and environmental factors can help manage certain types of investment risk. We do believe it is a better way to invest, as well as a more rational, civilized, humane and ultimately beneficial way to invest.

Social funds: BP, the 1960s, and greed | The Energy Collective

August 18, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, business and costs | antinuclear, climate change, energy efficiency, global warming, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes, plutonium, reactors, renewable energy, renewables, uranium