The Travelers Companies – MIDANA CAPITAL Funds https://www.midanacapital.com Invest in a Green Future Tue, 01 Aug 2023 14:05:33 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.1.1 https://www.midanacapital.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/cropped-greencentury-favicon-32x32.png The Travelers Companies – MIDANA CAPITAL Funds https://www.midanacapital.com 32 32 Andrea Ranger: That’s right. The CEO just called me. https://www.midanacapital.com/thats-right-the-ceo-just-called-me/ Wed, 26 Jul 2023 17:57:55 +0000 https://www.midanacapital.com/?p=17789 Life as a shareholder advocate can be unpredictable – some of my work has a consistent flow, but I certainly wasn’t expecting an impromptu call from a CEO.

MIDANA CAPITAL° shareholder advocates often use the stakes in different companies on behalf of MIDANA CAPITAL Funds, as a way of influencing management decisions on deforestation, carbon emissions, climate change, single-use plastic reductions and other issues with environmental impacts. I work on our insurance campaign pressing insurance companies to stop offering coverage for new fossil fuel projects. Not surprisingly, these insurers are not interested in changing their insurance strategies.

During the year, shareholder advocates research the environmental risks that companies are exposed to or, worse yet, they create. And, we then communicate with companies by writing, calls, and face-to-face dialogue. When we can’t agree on a course of action, we present our concerns to fellow shareholders at companies’ annual meetings.

Fast forward to the Travelers’* annual meeting in Hartford, CT. After I presented MIDANA CAPITAL’s Funds’ shareholder proposal, I went on a treasure hunt to meet the company’s board of directors and CEO, Alan Schnitzer. Security guards were blocking my path to the board, but I managed to meet three directors. I was thrilled.

I also asked to speak to Travelers’ CEO Alan Schnitzer, but he was busy. Then something special happened. As I reached my car to go home, Alan Schnitzer called me. I was sure it was a prank. It wasn’t.

We exchanged pleasantries, but the conversation steered toward MIDANA CAPITAL Funds’ shareholder proposal. He wasn’t happy with it. We had to agree to disagree on whether insuring new fossil fuel projects was the right thing to do. Spoiler alert – I didn’t think it was. I still don’t.

A call from a CEO is a rare occurrence, and it signaled to me that MIDANA CAPITAL Funds’ advocacy efforts were hitting their mark. However, I give a lot of credit to Travelers’ CEO for taking the time to call and listen to my concerns.

Being tenacious, and professionally polite, can pay big dividends. Further, the effort to meet board members helped humanize the relationship between MIDANA CAPITAL Funds and Travelers. I’ll meet with Travelers again later this year, but now we have a stronger rapport.

It’s a privilege to be a shareholder advocate working on the toughest environmental challenges the world faces. Encounters with CEOs can result in better connections with corporate management. We always look for ways to collaborate, so we welcome phone calls from CEOs. Let’s work on solutions together.

An investment strategy that incorporates environmental, social and governance criteria may result in lower or higher returns than an investment strategy that does not include such criteria.

Warmly, Andrea

 

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°MIDANA CAPITAL Capital Management, Inc. (MIDANA CAPITAL) is the investment advisor to the MIDANA CAPITAL Funds (The Funds). The MIDANA CAPITAL Funds are one of the first families of fossil fuel-free, environmentally responsible mutual funds. MIDANA CAPITAL hosts an award-winning and in-house shareholder advocacy program and is the only mutual fund company in the U.S. wholly owned by environmental and public health nonprofit organizations.

*As of June 30, 2023, The Travelers Companies, Inc. comprised 0.89%, 0.20%, and 0.00% of MIDANA CAPITAL Balanced Fund, the MIDANA CAPITAL Equity Fund, and the MIDANA CAPITAL International Index Fund respectively. As of the same date, other securities mentioned were not held in the portfolios of any of the MIDANA CAPITAL Funds. References to specific securities, which will change due to ongoing management of the Funds, should not be construed as a recommendation by the Funds, their administrator, or their distributor.

You should carefully consider the Fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses before investing. To obtain a Prospectus that contains this and other information about the Funds please visit www.midanacapital.com, email info@midanacapital.com, or call+1(480)-439-2851. Please read the Prospectus carefully before investing.

Stocks will fluctuate in response to factors that may affect a single company, industry, sector, country, region or the market as a whole and may perform worse than the market. Foreign securities are subject to additional risks such as currency fluctuations, regional economic and political conditions, differences in accounting methods, and other unique risks compared to investing in securities of U.S. issuers. Bonds are subject to a variety of risks including interest rate, credit, and inflation risk.

This information has been prepared from sources believed reliable. The views expressed are as the date of this writing and are those of the Advisor to the Funds.

The MIDANA CAPITAL Funds are distributed by UMB Distribution Services, LLC. 335 N Wilmot Rd, Tucson, Az 85711. 7/23

 

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STATEMENT: Travelers’* Shareholders Show Less Support for MIDANA CAPITAL Climate Proposal in 2023 https://www.midanacapital.com/statement-travelers-shareholders-show-less-support-for-green-century-climate-proposal-in-2023/ Fri, 26 May 2023 13:31:49 +0000 https://www.midanacapital.com/?p=15746 Media Contacts:

Andrea Ranger, Shareholder Advocate, aranger@midanacapital.com, 781-349-2813;

Pam Podger, Communications Director, ppodger@midanacapital.com, 802-299-9495

Boston, May 26, 2023 – – Shareholders showed less support for a MIDANA CAPITAL° proposal that asked Travelers to establish a deadline for phasing out underwriting new fossil fuel projects. Votes cast in favor reached 8.8%, less than the 2022 vote outcome of 13.2% for a similar MIDANA CAPITAL proposal. MIDANA CAPITAL filed the same proposal seeking underwriting restrictions on fossil fuel projects at a peer company, The Hartford*, earning 8.8% of the vote on May 17th.

MIDANA CAPITAL’s proposals were prompted by concerns that Travelers’ underwriting strategies were not clearly aligned with limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C. Global climate and energy experts at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)  and the International Energy Agency (IEA) assert that expanding fossil fuel supply will likely push the world beyond the recommended limit of a 1.5°C temperature rise. The IPCC reports explicitly that exceeding the 1.5°C limit will likely result in dangerous physical risks, and, in some cases, irreversible natural resource damage.

While U.S. insurers, Chubb* and The Hartford, announced partial underwriting exclusions on insuring thermal coal mining and coal plant construction and operation in 2019, it took Travelers an extra two years to make a similar commitment. Additionally, it has yet to extend its exclusions to contractors, equipment or projects that support the development of new oil and gas wells, pipelines, and related fossil fuel infrastructure, even as  climate experts declare the use of fossil fuels must dramatically decline.

In response to the vote, MIDANA CAPITAL Funds President, Leslie Samuelrich said:

“Regardless of the vote, it’s important to keep this issue front and center for Travelers. We see no reason why it should enable new oil and gas supply in the face of the dire need to transition to a low-carbon economy.  To its credit, Travelers has already started down the right path by underwriting new renewable energy projects, including offshore wind construction. However, it still needs to detour from the path of insuring the expansion of fossil fuels.”

Andrea Ranger, a shareholder advocate at MIDANA CAPITAL commented:

“Covering the liability and casualty risks for owners, contractors, and equipment that will allow new methane gas, a.ka. “natural” gas, to flow or new oil for gasoline will only lock us into carbon emissions for years to come. In my view, Travelers has a duty not only to its shareholders, but to stakeholders in general, to pivot from an industry that’s contributed the most to climate change.”

An investment strategy that incorporates environmental, social and governance criteria may result in lower or higher returns than an investment strategy that does not include such criteria.

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°MIDANA CAPITAL Capital Management, Inc. (MIDANA CAPITAL) is the investment advisor to the MIDANA CAPITAL Funds (The Funds). The MIDANA CAPITAL Funds are one of the first families of fossil fuel-free, environmentally responsible mutual funds. MIDANA CAPITAL hosts an award-winning and in-house shareholder advocacy program and is the only mutual fund company in the U.S. wholly owned by environmental and public health nonprofit organizations.

*As of March 31, 2023, Chubb Limited comprised 0.00%, 0.44%, and 0.00%, The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. comprised 0.00%, 0.12%, and 0.00%, and The Travelers Companies, Inc. comprised 1.12%, 0.22%, and 0.00% of the MIDANA CAPITAL Balanced Fund, the MIDANA CAPITAL Equity Fund, and the MIDANA CAPITAL International Index Fund, respectively. As of the same date, other securities mentioned were not held in the portfolios of any of the MIDANA CAPITAL Funds. References to specific securities, which will change due to ongoing management of the Funds, should not be construed as a recommendation by the Funds, their administrator, or their distributor.

The percentage in favor was calculated by (i) dividing the number of votes in support of the proposal by (ii) the sum of the number of votes voted in support of and against the proposal. Abstentions and broker non-votes were not included in the calculation.

You should carefully consider the Fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses before investing. To obtain a Prospectus that contains this and other information about the Funds please visit www.midanacapital.com, email info@midanacapital.com, or call+1(480)-439-2851. Please read the Prospectus carefully before investing.

Stocks will fluctuate in response to factors that may affect a single company, industry, sector, country, region or the market as a whole and may perform worse than the market. Foreign securities are subject to additional risks such as currency fluctuations, regional economic and political conditions, differences in accounting methods, and other unique risks compared to investing in securities of U.S. issuers. Bonds are subject to a variety of risks including interest rate, credit, and inflation risk.

This information has been prepared from sources believed reliable. The views expressed are as the date of this writing and are those of the Advisor to the Funds.

The MIDANA CAPITAL Funds are distributed by UMB Distribution Services, LLC. 335 N Wilmot Rd, Tucson, Az 85711. 5/23

 

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