Tell the biggest investors in the U.S. to stop funding rainforest destruction and conflict palm oil!

A palm oil company in Liberia is driving deforestation, wildlife habitat destruction, and human rights violations in some of the most dense rainforests in West Africa.

This company is backed by some of the biggest Wall Street financial institutions -- including Blackrock, Vanguard, Dimensional Fund Advisors, and TIAA. In order to stop the destruction of these lands and communities, we need your help to stop investors from enabling it!

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Dear Sustainability Manager,

This summer, we contacted you with troubling news from Liberia. One of your investee companies, Golden-Agri Resources (GAR), is involved in ongoing destruction of globally-significant rainforests and violation of community land rights through Golden Veroleum Liberia, its West African palm oil venture.

As you know, our research found GVL responsible for clearing dense forests, including chimpanzee habitat. Shortly after that came out, GVL appealed a decision by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) that found the company guilty of continuous violations of community rights, including using coercion and intimidation to force communities to sign agreements, destroying sacred sites, and continuing to develop disputed land. When the RSPO denied the appeal, GVL quit the RSPO.

You could hardly have a clearer signal that this company is uninterested in sustainability.

We reached out to you to stimulate your engagement with GAR. They suggested a timeline -- three months to reach out to GAR, find out what GAR is doing about its Liberian operations, and pressure GAR to start correcting its course.

Three months is up. And the latest reports from GVL’s plantations indicate that the company is taking retaliatory actions against community members who have spoken out.

As one of the world’s most reputable investment firms, it is reasonable to expect that your investment approach complies with international business frameworks such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and the OECD Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct. You have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that your investments are not destroying high-carbon stock forests, dispossessing communities of their traditional lands, and contributing to greater impoverishment –- all of which contribute to operational, reputational, and legal risks.

If you have used your leverage to urge GAR to suspend its Liberian operations until GVL comes into full compliance with international business norms, as we have asked, I thank you -– and I’d like you to report back to us on what’s changed.

If you haven’t engaged with GAR, or GAR has outright failed to respond to you -– then it’s time for you to recognize the risks associated with this company, and eliminate your exposure to GAR.

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

Sincerely,

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