When green companies do bad things

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May 10, 2022 View in browser   By Debra Kahn Presented by THE BIG IDEA Trash is a dirty business. | Noaki Schwartz/AP Photo WHICH IS WORSE — Single-use plastics or corporate bribery? That's how opponents of a first-in-the-nation voter initiative to reduce plastic waste are trying to frame it. The American Chemistry Council and the California Business Roundtable don't want California voters to approve the measure, which would put a fee on single-use plastic packaging and foodware, and require it to be recyclable or compostable by 2030. So they're attacking one of its sponsors, San Francisco-based waste hauler Recology. The company is known for its environmental bona fides — it diverts more waste to recycling and composting than to landfill, and almost all of the electricity it uses is carbon-free. But it also admitted last year to bribing San Francisco officials to get favorable contracts and treatment. Six city officials have stepped down in the wake of the investigations. "It is remarkable that a company that was found guilty of fraud, of bribery, of corruption, is the front firm" behind the initiative, opposition campaign spokesperson Michael Bustamante said. Environmental groups are calling the attack a distraction and pointing to a new investigation that Attorney General Rob Bonta announced last week into whether oil and chemical companies misled the public about the environmental hazards of plastics and how difficult it would be to recycle them. "The opponents are largely the same fossil fuel and petrochemical industries that have benefited from inaction for years," said Anja Brandon, U.S. plastics policy analyst for the Ocean Conservancy. But the tactic could very well work, California pollsters say. "The rule of thumb is it's always harder to pass a measure than to defeat one," said David Townsend , a Democratic political consultant. "To pass a measure, everything has to be flawless. To defeat a measure, all you have to do is find a weak link and pound that." Another aspect of this: Recology is not only privately owned, but employee-owned, so it doesn't have to worry about how it looks to potential investors. But the episode points to a question about how ESG raters would balance the company's environmental and governance performance and risks. "As these ESG ratings emerge, how much emphasis are we placing on the E, on the S or the G?" said Ian Dunham, a professor at San Francisco State University's Center for Ethical and Sustainable Business. "A company could potentially score highly in one and do very poorly on the other, and that wouldn't necessarily be reflected in the overall view of ESG." Read more here. YOU TELL US GAME ON — Welcome to the Long Game, where we tell you about the latest on efforts to shape our future. We deliver data-driven storytelling, compelling interviews with industry and political leaders, and news Tuesday through Friday to keep you in the loop on sustainability. Team Sustainability is editor Greg Mott, deputy editor Debra Kahn and reporters Lorraine Woellert and Jordan Wolman. Reach us all at gmott@politico.com, dkahn@politico.com, lwoellert@politico.com and jwolman@politico.com. Want more? Don't we all. Sign up for the Long Game. Four days a week and still free!   A message from The American Beverage Association: At America's beverage companies our plastic bottles are made to be remade. We're carefully designing them to be 100% recyclable, including the caps—so every bottle can become a new one. That means less plastic waste in our environment. Please help us get Every Bottle Back. EveryBottleBack.org   WASHINGTON WATCH SEC REPRIEVE — The agency is extending the comment period for its proposed climate disclosure rule from May 20 until June 17, the agency said Monday, in response to groups asking for more time to review it, POLITICO's Katy O'Donnell and Sam Sutton report. Oil and gas groups, banks and others had asked for more time, citing the 506-page rule's 1,068 footnotes and 196 questions. The SEC said it would give 30 more days, bringing the total comment period to 69 days. The agency also reopened comment periods for proposed rules on private fund investor protections and alternative trading systems. "Commenters with diverse views have noted that they would benefit from additional time to review these three proposals, and I'm pleased that the public will have additional time to provide thoughtful feedback," SEC Chair Gary Gensler said.   INTRODUCING DIGITAL FUTURE DAILY - OUR TECHNOLOGY NEWSLETTER, RE-IMAGINED:  Technology is always evolving, and our new tech-obsessed newsletter is too! Digital Future Daily unlocks the most important stories determining the future of technology, from Washington to Silicon Valley and innovation power centers around the world. Readers get an in-depth look at how the next wave of tech will reshape civic and political life, including activism, fundraising, lobbying and legislating. Go inside the minds of the biggest tech players, policymakers and regulators to learn how their decisions affect our lives. Don't miss out, subscribe today.     SHAREHOLDER SCOREBOARD AN ACTIVATED INVESTOR — Shareholders of the Virginia utility Dominion Energy Inc. will consider a resolution tomorrow requiring the company to report on the potential that its natural gas investments could soon become worthless, Corbin Hiar reports for POLITICO's E&E News. The stranded asset resolution has a better shot of passage than most because Dominion's board decided not to oppose it. And the influential shareholder advisory firms Glass, Lewis & Co. LLC and Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. both urged investors to back the proposal. The resolution is the brainchild of Freeda Cathcart, a 61-year-old former reinsurance specialist who became an activist shareholder after the election of former President Donald Trump. "I can't trust the government to watchdog what's happening, so I'm going to be responsible," said Cathcart, who introduced her first climate-related shareholder resolution in 2018 at Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Read more from Corbin here.   A message from The American Beverage Association:   BUILDING BLOCKS Flood waters move on the street in Pensacola, Fla. | Gerald Herbert/AP Photo NO SHORTCUTS — The Florida panhandle floods a lot — and it's only going to flood more. But a popular method of adapting to the rising risk could hurt adjacent homes, as Daniel Cusick reports for POLITICO's E&E News. "Fill and build," or using dirt to raise individual home parcels above the flood line, is popular with home-buyers in Pensacola's Tanyard neighborhood. It's also catching on in hundreds of other coastal communities, from Texas to South Carolina. Critics call it a case study in "maladaptation," where actions to mitigate climate change impacts for some people increase vulnerability for others. They say stormwater running off the higher lots inundates neighboring homes and streets — effectively raising a community's flood risk and putting longtime residents at even greater peril from hurricanes and extreme storms. "Fill and build is not a solution to anything. Fill and build is the problem," said Steve Emerman , a hydrologist and consultant to the Anthropocene Alliance, a coalition of small community organizations fighting the practice in Pensacola and elsewhere. Danny's got more of the story here.   A message from The American Beverage Association: America's leading beverage companies - The Coca-Cola Company, Keurig Dr Pepper and PepsiCo - are working together to reduce our industry's plastic footprint through our Every Bottle Back initiative. We're investing in efforts to get our bottles back so we can remake them into new bottles and use less new plastic. Together, we're: · Designing 100% recyclable plastic bottles – we're making our bottles from PET that's strong, lightweight and easy to recycle. · Investing in community recycling – we're marshalling the equivalent of nearly a half-billion dollars with The Recycling Partnership and Closed Loop Partners to support community recycling programs across multiple states. · Raising awareness – we're adding on-pack reminders to encourage consumers to recycle our plastic bottles and caps. Our bottles are made to be remade. Please help us get Every Bottle Back. EveryBottleBack.org   WHAT WE'RE CLICKING — Cleaner oil and gas companies are selling off their assets to dirtier ones, a new study shows. — Fossil fuel companies have a secret, wonky weapon to fight climate policies: investor-state dispute settlements. – Peter Thiel is backing an investment firm urging companies to stay out of hot-button social issues.   STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president's ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.       Follow us on Twitter Debra Kahn @debra_kahn Greg Mott @gwmott Lorraine Woellert @Woellert Jordan Wolman @jordanwolman   Follow us

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