Activism Takes Root Within Wells Fargo
Earlier this week, the Business Times reported: “Wells Fargo & Co. has joined the green party - a conservation movement that is gaining ground in the global finance community. [Headquartered in California, the bank's] effort to elevate environmental awareness has landed a San Ramon woman a job and drawn guarded praise from some environmental activists.”
When environmental activists are praising a corporation, beware.
In February, Wells Fargo hired [Mary] Wenzel, who previously worked for the Environmental Protection Agency in San Francisco, to lead its environmental awareness activities. When it announced Wenzel’s hiring, Wells Fargo also announced the creation of an environmental affairs committee. The group held its first meeting last month and formed three subcommittees to draft an environmental values statement, to look at the company’s environmental practices internally and to review commercial activities, including lending policies.
“We are going to take a look at our lending practices and see if an environmental policy is warranted,” said Wenzel, who chairs the committee.
That sounds a bit broad to me. Like, what about a company that imports items which are made in a third-world country that requires mining or logging? Or what about any manufacturer of a vehicle, for example an SUV? Anything that may be found objectionable by the environmentalists. They’ll be keeping a close eye on the bank, to be sure.
The report continues:
Last summer, Rainforest Action Network, a liberal, environmental-activist group, “waged a ‘barbecue the banks’ campaign on the streets of San Francisco to call attention to its campaign against Wells Fargo.”“I don’t think these issues were even on their radar screen until we brought them to their attention,” said Ilyse Hogue, who heads the Rainforest Action Network’s Global Finance Initiative.
Funny how that works. Once again, political-correctness bullies its way into corporate America.
June 22nd, 2005 at 9:51 am
[...] ay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Parade and Celebration. RELATED: Activism Takes Root Within Wells Fargo On a splash of asphalt on Grove Street will bloom a place for [...]
October 6th, 2005 at 4:22 pm
[...] Looks like the new hire Wells Fargo made in Q1 isn’t working out very well. As we reported in April, the bank hired [Mary] Wenzel, who previously worked for the Environmental Protection Agency in San Francisco, to lead its environmental awareness activities, including creation of an environmental affairs committee. The group held its first meeting in May and formed three subcommittees to examine the bank’s “internal practices” and commercial lending as they somehow related to the environment. “We disagree with the Rainforest Action Network’s allegations,” said Wells spokesman Chris Hammond, adding that the group was engaging in distortions and “taking facts out of context on Wells Fargo’s (NYSE: WFC) environmental practices and about our customer relationships.” [...]
April 26th, 2006 at 7:15 pm
[...] One year ago this month, we wrote: “Once again, political-correctness bullies its way into corporate America.” It appears that Wells Fargo has compromised itself by trying to appease the activists. Let this be a lesson to other institutions. [...]