Ahead of the 227th General Assembly, MRTI webinar helps familiarize Presbyterians with its corporate engagement work

LOUISVILLE — During the first of a series of webinars put on this week and designed to inform Presbyterians about some of the important work coming before commissioners and advisory delegates to the 227^th General Assembly, the Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment discussed some of its history and the business items that’ll be discerned and voted on during committee and plenary sessions.

Monday’s hour-long online gathering was led by the Rev. Marci Glass, who chairs the committee, and staff members Katie Carter and Simon Doong.

MRTI has three main overtures that GA commissioners will consider: CLJ-01, MRTI’s Response to the 226^th General Assembly Directive on Environmental Policy; FIN-02, MRTI’s Recommendation to Update Military & Weapons Screen; and FIN-07, MRTI’s response to FIN-01 from the 226^th General Assembly.

Doong noted that companies are selected for engagement because they have practices or policies out of alignment with the General Assembly. Only companies for which the PC(USA) or one of its investment agencies owns stock are engaged by MRTI. In years past, such engagement helped bring an end to apartheid in South Africa and helped train airlines and hotel staff how to more readily identify the victims of human trafficking. MRTI’s history of corporate engagement dates back to 1972.

“Often companies will change their practices,” Doong said.

Socially-responsible investing policies began in 1976, Glass noted. “Faith-based investors have a unique role,” Carter said. MRTI partners with such coalitions as the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility to boost its impact.

“As shareholders, we are able to bring community concerns directly to companies,” Doong said. “We often have a direct line to a company’s leadership.”

On CLJ-01, Glass said that MRTI committee members “recognize that climate change is undeniable and is one of the most pressing moral and theological problems of our time.” MRTI is recommending that ConocoPhillips and Duke Energy be placed on the General Assembly Divestment/Proscription List “until their actions are in compliance with the General Assembly’s established criteria,” the overture states.

The three explained MRTI’s engagement with GE Aerospace and Palantir Technologies in this piece published last week by Presbyterian News Service. FIN-02, MRTI’s recommended update to military and weapons screen, is the first such effort since 1998. The existing screen doesn’t account for technology companies serving as defense contractors, Doong said.

During a question-and-answer session that followed their presentation, Carter was asked specifically about engagement with ConocoPhillips, an energy company MRTI has been speaking with for at least 10 years, she said. “Ultimately, after all that engagement, we didn’t see much improvement on climate-related metrics,” Carter said, adding that once a company is placed on the GA Divestment/Proscription List, it can be removed from the list “with changes in business practices.”

“This was a decision not made quickly or easily,” Glass said. “We are grateful for the relationships and connections [with impacted members of the community] we were able to make.”

Asked about MRTI’s role in supporting boycotts, Carter said that’s outside MRTI’s purview. People interested in a boycott at the denominational level can contact the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy, she said.

“It’s an action individuals can take,” Doong said.

Asked if the Board of Pensions, for example, can deny investment recommendations even after they’ve been approved by GA commissioners, Carter said that could happen. But “historically, they have followed MRTI recommendations regarding divestment.”

“With the process we have with investing agencies being involved in the work we do,” Glass said, “when we say it, we mean it. I think that’s important to lift up.”

Learn more about and register for upcoming informational sessions here.