September, 15 2020, 12:00am EDT
Largest U.S. Investors Undermine Efforts To Halt Rainforest Destruction, New Report Finds
Rainforests face unprecedented fires, yet BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard have consistently voted in favor of deforestation
WASHINGTON
As rainforests across the tropics face another year of devastating fires, a new report from Friends of the Earth shows that largest U.S. asset managers, BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard--known as the Big Three--have explicitly undermined efforts by consumer brands and agribusiness companies to halt deforestation.
The new report, Doubling Down on Deforestation, reveals that the Big Three collectively hold shares worth almost $700 billion in consumer brands with supply chain links to rainforest destruction, and tens of billions more in the agribusiness producers directly responsible for widespread deforestation. All three firms have voted against or abstained from voting on every single shareholder resolution requiring companies to act on deforestation since 2012, and lack clear policies to engage with companies on the issue, which is the second leading cause of climate change. The report urges asset owners, including city and state pension funds, to advocate for the Big Three to eliminate deforestation from their portfolios.
"Millions of Americans rely on BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard to provide a secure future, but by continuing to neglect the global deforestation crisis while bankrolling the industries responsible, these investors are actively undermining that very future," said Jeff Conant, senior international forest program director with Friends of the Earth. "The destruction of forests is also tied to the epidemic of killings of environmental defenders, many of them Indigenous, and the world's largest investors have stayed silent. This is not just inaction--it is willful neglect."
New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer, who oversees the New York City's $194.5 billion pension system, said, "If we don't act now to preserve and protect our world's forest, we will exacerbate an ongoing environmental and human rights crisis. Global deforestation rates have accelerated by 43 percent since 2014 and we need every company, from consumer retailers to financial firms, to realize we can't stand by as forests are razed and burned."
The Brazilian Amazon is facing the worst burning season in a decade, with over 500 major fires so far in 2020, many of them in Indigenous Peoples' territories. In Indonesia, where deadly fires in 2019 released over 700 tons of greenhouse gases, many provinces have already declared an emergency as toxic haze from intentionally lit fires intensifies the already grave COVID-19 pandemic.
"Shareholders have tremendous power to transform our economy for the good of people and the planet," said Josh Zinner, CEO of the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility, a leading consortium of faith and values-based shareholder advocates. "Unfortunately, as this report reveals, the world's largest asset managers have consistently used their power to undermine climate justice and human rights."
"For years the Big Three ignored deforestation, sending a clear signal to industry that the destruction can continue," said Mary Cerulli, co-founder of Climate Finance Action, a Boston-based group advocating for the finance sector to transition justly away from business models that drive the climate crisis.
Doubling Down on Deforestation available for download here, provides a suite of recommendations for government, industry, and finance to take meaningful action to halt deforestation.
The launch of the report was accompanied today by colorful, physically distant actions where Friends of the Earth delivered more than 125,000 petitions to the investors' headquarters in Boston, New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco*.
Background:
In 2010, the Consumer Goods Forum, a consortium of the world's largest retail companies, committed to achieving zero-net deforestation in commodity supply chains by 2020--but failed to meet that commitment. From 2014-2019, global tree cover loss increased by 43%, with an area of forest the size of the United Kingdom lost every year, leading to annual CO2 emissions equal to the annual emissions of the European Union. The destruction of critical wildlife habitat is also a root cause of zoonotic illnesses like COVID-19, with three-quarters of emerging infectious diseases "spilling over" into human hosts due to habitat destruction often linked to agribusiness. In this sense, the new report notes, tropical forests are not only analogous to "the lungs of the Earth," they are also the Earth's immune system - and the world's largest money managers have left them dangerously vulnerable.
Asset managers can address deforestation in companies they invest in through direct engagement with companies, proxy voting, or excluding destructive companies entirely from their portfolios. Numerous investor alliances have arisen in the last decade to take steps in a collective effort to protect the value of their investments. Yet, "the Big Three" asset managers--BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street--have been largely absent from these efforts and ineffectual in their attempts to address deforestation, the report finds.
*Picures will be added later in the afternoon after the events have concluded.
Key Findings by the Numbers:
- 43% - the amount by which global deforestation has increased since 2014, largely driven by agricultural commodities used in everyday consumer goods.
- $5.2 billion - the estimated economic loss to Indonesia from forest fires in 2019.
- 900,000 - the number of hectares of Amazon rainforest illegally burned in 2019.
- 4 - the number of land and environmental defenders killed each week worldwide.
- $698 billion - the total value of bonds and shares owned by BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street in Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) companies (as of Q1 2020). Respectively, Vanguard has $291 billion, BlackRock has $250 billion, and State Street has $157 billion invested in CGF companies.
- 67 - the number of CGF companies in which BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street rank among the top three shareholders. BlackRock is a top-three shareholder in 55 CGF companies, Vanguard is a top-three shareholder in 48 CGF companies, and State Street is a top-three shareholder in 17 CGF companies.)
- 100% - the frequency with which the Big Three voted against or abstained from voting on deforestation resolutions at consumer goods and agribusiness companies during the period since the CGF committed to ending deforestation in global supply chains.
- 25 - the number of agribusiness producers, traders, and processors known to be engaged in ongoing deforestation and land rights violations from which CGF companies continue to source
- 15 - the number of agribusiness producers, traders, and processors known to be engaged in ongoing deforestation and land rights violations that also receive investments from the Big Three
- $10.6 billion - the total value of bonds and shares owned by BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street in the publicly listed deforestation-risk producers, traders, and processors that continue to supply CGF companies (as of Q1 2020).
- 0 - the number of formal policies the Big Three have addressing deforestation and land rights risks.
Friends of the Earth fights for a more healthy and just world. Together we speak truth to power and expose those who endanger the health of people and the planet for corporate profit. We organize to build long-term political power and campaign to change the rules of our economic and political systems that create injustice and destroy nature.
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US Reportedly Working to Stop ICC From Issuing Arrest Warrant for Netanyahu
"There is absolutely no reason for Biden to be involved in this," said one analyst. "But once again, Biden steps in to protect Netanyahu from the consequences of the war crimes he commits."
Apr 28, 2024
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly growing increasingly concerned that the International Criminal Court is preparing to issue arrest warrants for him and other top government officials for committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
The Times of Israelreported Sunday that the Israeli government, in partnership with the U.S., is "making a concerted effort to head off" possible arrest warrants from the ICC, which first launched its war crimes investigation in the occupied Palestinian territories in 2021.
Israel does not recognize the ICC's jurisdiction and has refused to cooperate with the probe. The ICC says it has jurisdiction over Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.
Citing an unnamed Israeli government source, The Times of Israel reported that "a major focus of the ICC allegations will be that Israel 'deliberately starved Palestinians in Gaza.'" Other officials who could face arrest warrants are Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi.
The Times of Israel's reporting came shortly after Israeli journalist Ben Caspit wrote that Netanyahu is "under unusual stress" over the possibility of arrest warrants and is leading a "nonstop push over the telephone" to forestall ICC action.
Like Israel, the U.S. is not a party to the Rome Statute, which established the ICC in 2002. The legal body is tasked with investigating individuals, not governments.
The U.S., Israel's leading arms supplier, has opposed the ICC's Palestine investigation from the start, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying in a 2021 statement that the court "has no jurisdiction over this matter" because "Israel is not a party to the ICC."
But the Biden administration vocally supported the ICC's decision to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over war crimes committed in Ukraine, even though neither Russia nor Ukraine are parties to the Rome Statute.
Seeing commentary that ICC arrest warrants against Israeli officials would create a dangerous precedent because Israel isn’t a party to the Rome Statute.
Guess who else isn’t a party to the Rome Statute?
Russia.
ICC already crossed that bridge with warrant for Putin.
— Brian Finucane (@BCFinucane) April 28, 2024
The Israeli government has been accused of committing numerous war crimes in Gaza since the October 7 Hamas-led attack, including genocide, ethnic cleansing, and using starvation as a weapon of war. Late last year, the human rights group Democracy for the Arab World Now submitted to the ICC the names of dozens of Israeli military commanders who are believed to have been directly involved in violations of international law.
Reports of potentially imminent ICC action have sparked alarm among conservatives in the United States.
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) wrote on social media Friday that the court should "should stand down on this immediately."
In an
editorial published that same day, The Wall Street Journal suggested the U.S. and United Kingdom could "risk finding Americans and Britons under the gun" next if they don't warn ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan against issuing arrest warrants for Israeli officials. Human rights organizations and legal experts have said Biden and other U.S. officials could be held liable under international law if they continue supporting Israel's war on Gaza.
"Mr. Khan's candidacy was championed by his native Britain and supported by the U.S.," continues the Journal editorial, "so both countries may have influence if they warn Mr. Khan of what will happen if he proceeds."
The Times of Israelnoted Sunday that according to reports in several Israeli media outlets, the U.S. is "part of a last-ditch diplomatic effort to prevent the International Criminal Court from issuing arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials."
Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, argued Sunday that "there is absolutely no reason for Biden to be involved in this."
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"Today's leak should mark a final end to this impunity. President Biden has no choice but to fully enforce the law and halt aid to Israel."
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A newly leaked internal memo shows that officials at four U.S. State Department bureaus don't believe the Israeli government's assurances that it is using American weaponry in Gaza in compliance with international law, rejecting them as "neither credible nor reliable."
The memo, first reported by Reuters on Saturday, is a joint submission from the State Department's bureaus of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor; Population, Refugees, and Migration; Global Criminal Justice; and International Organization Affairs.
The leaked document raises "serious concern over non-compliance" with international law, specifically citing the Israeli military's repeated attacks on civilian infrastructure, refusal to investigate or punish those responsible for atrocities, and killing of "humanitarian workers and journalists at an unprecedented rate," according to Reuters.
The memo also points to Israel's arbitrary rejection of humanitarian aid trucks, which has fueled famine in the Gaza Strip. The bureaus' conclusion matches that of officials at the United States Agency for International Development.
Human rights groups have been documenting Israel's atrocities and systematic obstruction of aid for months, but the Biden administration has continued approving weapons sales for the Netanyahu government despite U.S. laws prohibiting arms transfers to countries violating human rights and blocking American humanitarian assistance.
Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), said Saturday that "the State Department's leaked confirmation that Israel has restricted the transport and delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance leaves no doubt: U.S. law requires the suspension of military aid to Israel."
"For too long, the Biden administration has breached or ignored U.S. laws that require the suspension of aid to an abusive regime like Israel, fueling Israeli belligerence and rewarding its atrocities," said Whitson. "It's time for real consequences."
"Suspending military aid is the bare minimum the U.S. must do to avoid further complicity in these abuses."
In March, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant penned a letter assuring the Biden administration that the Israeli military's use of American weaponry has been in line with international law. A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department subsequently indicated that the Biden administration has not found Israel "to be in violation of international humanitarian law," drawing outrage from analysts and members of Congress who say it is obvious Israel is committing war crimes. in Gaza.
The U.S. State Department is expected to deliver its final assessment of Israel's assurances to Congress in early May.
The written assurances from Israel were required under a White House policy known as National Security Memorandum 20 (NSM-20), which has the ostensible aim of preventing "arms transfers that risk facilitating or otherwise contributing to violations of human rights or international humanitarian law."
NSM-20 states that "in furtherance of supporting Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2378-1) and applicable international law," the U.S. will "obtain credible and reliable written assurances from a representative of the recipient country as the Secretary of State deems appropriate that, in any area of armed conflict where the recipient country uses such defense articles, consistent with applicable international law, the recipient country will facilitate and not arbitrarily deny, restrict, or otherwise impede, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance and United States Government-supported international efforts to provide humanitarian assistance."
Raed Jarrar, DAWN's advocacy director, said Saturday that "Section 620I has been rendered toothless by State Department inaction and special treatment for Israel."
"Today's leak should mark a final end to this impunity. President Biden has no choice but to fully enforce the law and halt aid to Israel," said Jarrar. "From bombing residential towers to blocking food and medicine, Israel's war on Gaza has been marked by utter disregard for civilian life and international law. Suspending military aid is the bare minimum the U.S. must do to avoid further complicity in these abuses. But it's an essential first step to show that even Israel is not above the law."
Details of the internal State Department memo emerged just days after Congress gave final approval to a foreign aid package that includes $17 billion in unconditional military assistance for the Israeli government.
In a joint statement on Friday, dozens of civil society groups warned that the newly approved military aid risks deepening U.S. complicity in an assault that has killed more than 34,000 people and put millions at risk of starvation.
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"To sit and schmooze with the president while he sends billions of dollars in weapons to Israel to kill their colleagues in Gaza is unethical and immoral."
Apr 27, 2024
On Saturday night, U.S. reporters and government officials—including President Joe Biden—will gather at the Washington Hilton Hotel for the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner, a glitzy, humor-filled affair that has faced mounting boycott calls in recent weeks as Palestinian journalists in Gaza are targeted and killed by the Israeli military in appalling numbers.
Earlier this month, dozens of Palestinian journalists urged their American colleagues to spurn the invite-only event "as an act of solidarity with us—your fellow journalists—as well as with the millions of Palestinians currently being starved in Gaza due to the Biden administration's continued political, financial, and military backing of Israel."
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"I have attended the White House Correspondents' Dinner for the past two years," Hasan, a former MSNBC host, wrote on social media Saturday, hours before the event. "I decided not to attend today's dinner (which, to be clear, is hosted by D.C. journalists not the White House) in solidarity with under-fire Palestinian journalists in Gaza who have called for a boycott."
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 97 media workers—92 of them Palestinian—have been killed in Gaza, Israel, and Lebanon since October 7. The Palestinian Journalist Syndicate puts the number higher at 125.
"Israel has killed over 10% of our colleagues," said Shuruq As'ad, director of the Palestine Journalism Hub and supporter of calls to boycott the White House Correspondents' Dinner, which is hosted by the White House Correspondents' Association.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), an organization representing more than 600,000 media workers across 146 countries, endorsed the boycott push on Saturday, as did the National Writers Union (NWU).
"More than 100 journalists and media workers have been killed in the past six months of Israel's war on Gaza, backed by the United States government," NWU said in a statement. "As a union of journalists and media workers who strive for truth, we refuse to normalize genocide. Stand with journalists in Gaza and amplify the call for a boycott."
Israel's assault on Gaza, which has been fueled by U.S. weapons and diplomatic support, is the deadliest conflict for journalists in decades. Last year, roughly 75% of the journalists killed globally were killed by Israeli forces.
Al Jazeera's Gaza bureau chief, Wael Dahdouh, has lost five family members to Israeli airstrikes, including his 27-year-old son Hamza, who was also a journalist.
"To dine with him as he allows Palestinians to die of starvation by cutting off funding to critical humanitarian aid is despicable."
Press freedom groups have accused the Biden White House of failing to do enough to stop the Israeli military from targeting members of the media, who continue to risk their lives to show the world the devastation Israel is inflicting in Gaza.
"The Biden administration has been all talk when it comes to journalists killed by the Israel Defense Forces," Seth Stern, director of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, said earlier this year. "The Biden administration says it cares deeply about journalists' freedom to cover the war but has failed to demand Israel ensure journalists' safety or hold it accountable when it doesn't."
The New York Timesreported that in addition to the jokes, Biden is "expected to issue a more serious warning at a time when journalists around the world are being jailed or detained more frequently for doing their job."
But it remains to be seen whether the president will mention Gaza journalists specifically.
President Biden will address the White House Correspondents Dinner tonight. It’s expected that’ll he’ll mention threats to journalists around the world. Will he mention Israel’s murder of Shireen Abu Aqlah & the scores of Palestinian journalists murdered in Gaza? Probably not. pic.twitter.com/nA6M2t9nK9
— James J. Zogby (@jjz1600) April 27, 2024
Protests are expected outside the dinner's venue, but as NBC Newsreported, "protests inside the event itself are much less common and perhaps unprecedented, given the tight security."
"People involved in organizing the protests said they knew of no plans to try to infiltrate the exclusive invite-only dinner," the outlet added. (Kelly O'Donnell, NBC's senior White House correspondent, is presiding over this year's dinner.)
Sandra Tamari, executive director of the Adalah Justice Project, which helped organize the letter calling for a boycott of Saturday's dinner, said it's grotesque for reporters who claim to be committed to a free press to pal around with members of an administration that is aiding deadly attacks on journalists in Gaza.
"To sit and schmooze with the president while he sends billions of dollars in weapons to Israel to kill their colleagues in Gaza is unethical and immoral," said Sandra Tamari, executive director of Adalah Justice Project, which helped organize the letter calling for a boycott of Saturday's dinner. "To dine with him as he allows Palestinians to die of starvation by cutting off funding to critical humanitarian aid is despicable."
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