Publicly traded companies are required to hold meetings once a year for their shareholders. At these meetings, certain key items that require shareholder approval, such as resolutions pertaining to corporate sustainability or the election of directors to a company’s board, are considered. These are known as proxy votes since most shareholders do not attend the annual meetings in person.

Green Century° believes that proxy voting is an important obligation for all mutual funds and investment managers. Unfortunately, many traditional mutual funds and investment managers fail to vote for resolutions aimed at improving a company’s environmental practices – if they even vote at all.

Voting on company proxies is the most elemental component of shareholder advocacy and Green Century votes the proxies of all of the holdings in the Green Century Funds.

All of Green Century’s proxy voting is conducted in-house. Unlike many traditional mutual funds, none of our proxy voting is outsourced to advisor firms.

Green Century votes all of its proxies in the best interest of the Funds and its shareholders. When considering shareholder resolutions about the environment and public health, Green Century believes that environmentally destructive practices are not just bad for society and the environment, but also create significant risk for businesses. You can read Green Century’s Proxy Voting Policies and Procedures.

The proxy voting records of the Green Century Balanced Fund, Green Century Equity Fund, and the Green Century MSCI International Index Fund for the most recent one-year period also are publicly available.

Shareholders also can file shareholder resolutions for consideration at companies’ annual meetings. Every year, Green Century files shareholder resolutions aimed at improving corporate sustainability. You can learn more about our award-winning shareholder advocacy program here.