Organization: SunTrust Banks, Inc.

Year: 2010

Description: WHEREAS: In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found “warming of the climate system is unequivocal” and man-made greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are now believed, with greater than 90 percent certainty, to be the cause.
 
SunTrust’s industry peers are implementing substantial new policies, programs, and objectives related to climate change and reducing their direct and indirect GHG emissions.
 
SunTrust Banks has not issued a Sustainability Report, nor has SunTrust made publicly available a plan to reduce direct or indirect GHG emissions. According to a 2008 KPMG report on sustainability reporting, of the 250 Global Fortune companies, 79% produce reports compared to 52% in 2005. Of the 100 top U.S. companies by revenue, 73% produce reports compared to 32% in 2005.
 
SunTrust competitors Bank of America and Citigroup recently scored 73 and 70, respectively, in the 2009 Carbon Disclosure Project survey, which assessed measurement, verification and disclosure of companies’ GHG emissions. SunTrust scored only 29 in the 2009 report, indicating that SunTrust is lagging its peers in terms of carbon disclosure.
 
Current and pending climate-related public policies present important new business risks and opportunities for SunTrust. Investment in and financing of emissions-intensive activities and businesses is arguably the most significant impact that SunTrust has regarding climate change.
 
Major institutional investors are increasingly voting their proxies on environmental, social and governance issues thoughtfully, conscientiously, and on the merits of each issue.
 
RESOLVED: Shareholders request that the Board of Directors prepare a sustainability report describing strategies to address the environmental and social impacts of SunTrust’s business, including strategies to address climate change. The report, prepared at reasonable cost and omitting proprietary information, should be published within six months of SunTrust’s 2010 annual meeting.
 
Supporting Statement: The report should include the company’s definition of sustainability and a company-wide review of policies, practices, and metrics related to long-term social and environmental sustainability. Lending practices relating to social and environmental issues should be reviewed along with proxy voting policies and procedures on these issues, including a comparison of SunTrust’s proxy voting record on these issues with other large institutional investors such as the largest state pension funds. This review should examine procedures for exposing any potential conflicts of interest related to proxy votes.
 
We recommend SunTrust use the Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Guidelines to prepare the report. GRI (www.globalreporting.org) is an international organization developed with representatives from the business, environmental, human rights and labor communities. The Guidelines provide guidance on report content, including performance on environmental, labor, human rights, and product responsibility issues. The GRI Guidelines provide a flexible reporting system that allows the omission of content not relevant to SunTrust.
 
Examples of topics that could be reviewed in the report include: ways to reduce the use of energy and natural resources by SunTrust facilities and employees, governance practices related to climate change and sustainability, and how SunTrust encourages customers to act in environmentally responsible ways.