Tell State Street to step up its efforts to fight deforestation!

The world’s third-largest investment company, State Street Global Advisors, owns shares in brands like Procter & Gamble, who are flushing Canada’s iconic boreal forests down the toilet. As shareholders, they have hundreds of millions of dollars invested in P&G and many other forest-destroying companies.

The boreal forests are not just essential to wildlife and the Indigenous peoples that call these forests home. They also store millions of tons of carbon. That makes them a crucial line of defense against the climate crisis -- which will impact all of us.

Indigenous communities and vulnerable wildlife will continue to suffer if State Street doesn’t take strong and rapid action to end P&G’s destructive practices. Will you sign your name and urge State Street to step up its efforts to fight deforestation?

Comments

Dear State Street Asset Stewardship Team,

I am writing to thank you for making deforestation a thematic priority in your asset stewardship. As someone who cares deeply about forests and human rights, I am pleased to see a global investment firm like State Street demonstrating leadership on these issues.

With a broad portfolio of investments in companies with direct exposure to deforestation in their supply chains, such as Procter & Gamble and Bunge Ltd, it’s great to see that you comprehend the risks both to your portfolios and to the planet posed by these companies if they don’t take sufficient action to curb deforestation.

In 2020, your firm was among the two-thirds of Procter & Gamble’s shareholders that voted to urge the company to eliminate deforestation and intact forest degradation from its supply chains. In 2021, your firm was among the 98% of shareholders that told Bunge to increase the pace of its deforestation commitment. With your recent enhanced commitment to the issue, I have hope that we can tackle deforestation.

At the same time, I hope and expect to see you maintain a strong stance that ensures these companies will continue to improve. While P&G has made some changes, the company continues to source from palm oil suppliers involved in violent land grabbing and illegal deforestation, as well as to source pulp from Canada’s ancient primary forests. And while Bunge has committed to ending deforestation in its soy supply chains by 2025, it appears that the company will continue to enable deforestation of the Brazilian Cerrado right up to the last minute. Several recent cases where thousands of acres of biodiverse savannah have been wiped out to clear land for soy are linked to Bunge’s current and potential future operations.

I find this intolerable, and so should you.

State Street has committed to use its voting power to make real progress in addressing deforestation and the climate crisis. While your engagements are an important step, I believe it is time for you to use your voting power to cast votes against key Board Directors at both companies – and at any company that fails to meet fundamental deforestation-free criteria, NOW.

In sum, I want to THANK YOU for your commitment to ending deforestation and human rights abuses – and I ask you to use all your leverage to ensure that your investee companies continue to move in the right direction. The planet can’t wait.

Thank you,
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