Stop conflict palm oil!

Palm Oil is the most widely consumed vegetable oil in the world today. It is estimated to be in roughly half of all consumer goods on supermarket shelves in the United States and Europe. It is also likely that palm oil companies are financed by your pension, retirement fund, or bank.

But palm oil also drives some of the worst environmental and human rights crises on the planet and is one of the leading causes of global rainforest destruction. Climate chaos, Indigenous rights violations, land grabbing, child labor, worker exploitation, and animal extinction are all caused by those looking to get rich off this commodity.

In Liberia, West Africa, a company called GVL is destroying rainforests that are home to chimpanzees, hippos, and thousands of people who have lived and worked upon these lands for generations. GVL is owned by the second largest palm oil conglomerate in the world — and financed by several US asset managers, including BlackRock, the world’s largest investment firm.

In Indonesia, food giant Indofood has been documented destroying peatlands and rainforests and systematically exploiting its workers. The largest privately held company in Indonesia, Indofood has yet to adopt a “No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation” policy. In March 2019, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) terminated Indofood’s sustainability certificates and membership for failing to address worker exploitation on its plantations. Indofood is also financed by several US asset managers, including, you guessed it: BlackRock.

BlackRock has proclaimed itself a leader in responsible investing. But BlackRock is among the top global investors in all of the industries that drive deforestation. There is no room for conflict palm oil in responsible investment.

Tell BlackRock to cut ties with conflict palm oil in Liberia, drop Indofood from its portfolios, and phase out its financing of conflict palm oil.

Comments

Dear Larry Fink:

One of the companies in which BlackRock invests, Golden Agri Resources, and its subsidiary GVL, has been devastating land, forests, and human rights in Liberia. Another, Indofood, is violating workers’ rights, destroying forests and peatlands and was recently kicked out of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

You have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that your investments are not destroying forests, dispossessing communities of their traditional lands, and contributing to greater impoverishment or exploitation of workers — all of which contribute to operational, reputational, and legal risks for you and your beneficiaries.

Mr. Fink, Goldman Environmental Prize Winner Alfred Brownell has written you a letter, where he says, “It is time that BlackRock stops financing, sheltering and shielding destructive investments that threaten peoples and the planet. It is time you use your $6 trillion dollar assets to invest in poor communities, indigenous peoples and the planet. It is time you end the rhetoric and strip away the labels and brands that hide the destruction embedded in your portfolios, and get on the right side of history. It is time you defund deforestation, divest from fossil fuels, and stop making the climate crisis worse.”

There’s a lot that BlackRock can do to get on the right side of history. For starters, BlackRock should cut ties with conflict palm oil in Liberia and drop Indofood from its portfolios. Then, you should commit to a deforestation and exploitation-free investment policy and phase out investment in conflict palm oil.

There is no room for conflict palm oil in responsible investment.

Sincerely,
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