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SAN FRANCISCO, April 16, 2007 - Forward Management, LLC (Forward) today announced its second annual “Forward Green Leaders,” a short-list of US large-cap public companies whose environmental practices are innovative and progressive, making them true corporate green leaders. Forward Management selected the Green Leaders from the top 100 large-cap companies that meet the environmental criteria for the Sierra Club Stock Fund and the Sierra Club Equity Income Fund. The five Forward Green Leaders for 2007 are Bank of America Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Company, Dell Inc., Whole Foods Market, Inc. and Google Inc.
- Bank of America Corporation
Bank of America is in the midst of constructing a U.S. Green Building Council-certified 52-story office building in New York. When it is completed in 2008, the building will include a natural gas cogeneration plant to power the building, recycled rainwater for toilets and irrigation, high efficiency exterior glass, and lights that dim when sunlight levels are adequate. The Bank of America building will be the first domestic skyscraper to attain the highest rating set forth by the U.S. Green Building Council. In addition, Bank of America has endorsed the CERES Principles since 1996.
- Hewlett-Packard Company
Hewlett-Packard has cited raising social and environmental responsibility standards in its supply chain as one of its top priorities. With its Design for Environment guidelines to introduce environmentally sound practices into the full product development and manufacturing process, HP is focusing heavily on energy efficiency, reducing materials and product recycling. HP also has successfully reduced packaging by redesigning, packing items in bulk and eliminating cartridge packaging and inserts. Finally, Hewlett-Packard owns and operates one of the world's largest recycling plants, near Sacramento, CA.
- Dell Inc.
As the first major personal computer maker to commit to specific recycling goals for computers, Dell continues to be a leader in environmental practices. Their practices include: establishing strict criteria for its recycling vendors; recycling programs with a global reuse or recycle rate of 80% in each of Dell's office and manufacturing facilities; and participating in a number of EPA voluntary programs, including Energy Star Green Buildings, Climate Wise and Waste Wise. Additionally, Dell met the requirements of the European Union's Restriction on Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) in July 2006 and is focused on implementing these design requirements on all global product lines. Dell also remains committed to making product retirement as easy for customers as product purchase, and has met the goal to increase product recovery in fiscal year 2006, recovering more than 18 million kilograms of used equipment for reuse or recycling.
- Whole Foods Market, Inc.
As of June 2006, Whole Foods Market was the largest seller (in terms of absolute revenue) of organic foods in the U.S. To take the company beyond organic to include an emphasis on local, ethical, sustainable and humane farming, Whole Foods has founded a $30 million venture capital fund to invest in small artisans producing regional foods. They also are developing a tiered rating system for organic farms and meat producers and are committed to selling only responsibly harvested fish through their Seafood Sustainability program. In another new initiative, they are launching the Whole Trade Guarantee, partnering with Fair Trade and the Rainforest Alliance to evaluate the labor practices and environmental sustainability of imported foods. In July 2006, Whole Foods began conducting annual third-party audits of private label suppliers and implemented testing plans to track genetically modified ingredients in its products. Also in 2006 they made a landmark purchase of renewable energy credits (RECs) from wind farms to offset 100% of the electricity used in all of the company's facilities in the U.S. and Canada. This is the largest ever purchase of wind energy credits in the U.S. and makes Whole Foods the only Fortune 500 company applying wind energy credits to offset all of its electricity consumption.
- Google Inc.
Google has begun constructing the nation’s largest solar electricity system at its Mountain View, Calif. headquarters. Panels are being built for the entire campus, and the roofs of its four main buildings and two adjacent buildings will be decked. With a total capacity of 1.6 megawatts - enough to supply 1,000 average California homes – the Google system will be the largest solar installation on any U.S. corporate campus, and will be among the five largest installations in the world. Google also has informally announced its desire to install an additional 10MW, to make the company carbon neutral. Google’s latest step towards going green was hiring Al Gore to serve as a Senior Advisor to Google on many green business initiatives.
“These companies are very progressive in their environmental practices, and they also exemplify our theory that companies with strong green strategies also have strong business strategies and smart management teams” said Garvin Jabusch, co-portfolio manager for the Sierra Club Stock Fund, Director of Forward Progressive Investments and VP of Forward Management. “We are proud to recognize these companies who are leading the way for corporate America in their green practices.”
The Forward Green Leaders are part of the Sierra Club Mutual Funds’ Environmentally Qualified Investment (EQI) investment list, and are some of America's most environmentally progressive and socially aware businesses. The EQI list contains more than 300 companies which are approved for investment in either the Sierra Club Stock Fund or the Sierra Club Equity Income Fund. The Sierra Club, known for its leading role in protecting communities and the planet, has worked with Forward Management to establish strict environmental guidelines for the Sierra Club Mutual Funds.
About Forward Management, LLC
Forward Management, LLC, based in San Francisco, is the investment advisor to the Forward Funds, a family of fourteen mutual funds. The firm also offers a range of separately managed accounts including Large Cap, REIT, Equity Income and Micro Cap. Forward Management is an affiliate of ReFlow Management, which developed ReFlow, an innovative liquidity tool for portfolio managers that provides enhanced performance and tax efficiency. ReFlow is used by the Forward Funds and the Sierra Club Mutual Funds, as well as other leading mutual fund managers.
Forward Management offers institutional money managers, financial advisors and individual investors access to industry leading investment managers, investment products and services. The firm specializes in identifying sub-advisors who have long track records of managing assets in specific investment disciplines and asset classes. More information on Forward Management and the Sierra Club Mutual Funds can be found at www.sierraclubfunds.com.
You should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the Forward Funds carefully before investing. A prospectus with this and other information may be obtained by calling (800) 999-6809 or by downloading one from www.forwardfunds.com. It should be read carefully before investing.
There are risks involved with investing, including loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
As of February 28, 2007, the Funds held the following positions in their portfolios:
Sierra Club Stock Fund:
Bank of America Corp. - 0.96%; Hewlett-Packard Co. - 0.90%; Dell Inc - 0.91%; Whole Foods, Inc. - 0.00%; Google Inc- 0.92%
Sierra Club Equity Income Fund:
Bank of America Corp. - 2.41%; Hewlett-Packard Co. - 3.52%; Dell Inc - 01.86%; Whole Foods, Inc. - 0.00%; Google Inc- 0.00%
Forward Funds are distributed by ALPS Distributors, Inc.
Sierra Club® is a registered trademark of the Sierra Club.
FWD000803 040108
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