Forests
The loss of forests worldwide accounts for roughly 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and forests are critical to regulating the climate, both locally and globally. Climate change has thrust the decades-long fight against deforestation back into the international spotlight. Deforestation is an urgent problem that has wide repercussions. But forests are not merely the lungs of the earth — they are also the greatest repositories of biological and cultural diversity on earth, and home to 350 million people, including at least 60 million indigenous peoples who have protected and defended forests since time immemorial. Friends of the Earth’s International Forests program works to address the root causes of forest destruction and the marginalization of forest-dwelling communities. We do this through our campaign on Land grabs, forests & finance, and our work to challenge forest carbon offsets.
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Forests Tell BlackRock: Stop supporting environmental destruction and human rights violations!TAKE ACTION
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Forests Stop a hydro dam from wiping out the newly discovered species of orangutanTAKE ACTION
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Forests Tell TIAA: Cut ties with conflict palm oilTAKE ACTION
Friends of the Earth and our allies have pushed businesses and corporations to cut ties with abusive and destructive palm oil companies.
More than 40,000 Friends of the Earth members signed our petition urging Nestlé to cut ties with REPSA. And Nestlé responded.
BlackRock, with over $6.3 trillion of assets under management, is a leading investor in sectors driving climate change: coal, oil, gas and deforestation, as well as the banks that finance them.
Nestlé’s decision to cut ties with REPSA is a step in the right direction and a victory for all the activists who have fought for years to bring REPSA’s actions to light.
Several executives with the Guatemalan palm oil company Reforestadora de Palmas AC (REPSA) face charges of corruption in a high-profile tax fraud investigation in Guatemala.
In addition to destroying endangered species’ habitats and driving deforestation contributing to climate change, palm oil companies are responsible for land grabbing and gross violations of local communities’ human rights.
BlackRock knows it has a climate problem, as this 2016 report demonstrates. And, for starters there are a number of reasonably easy things BlackRock can do to begin phasing out climate destruction from its portfolios.
In the forests of southeastern Liberia, frustrations are mounting with the vibrations of power saws and bulldozers.
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Learn MoreTransnational corporations and land speculation in Brazil
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DownloadInvested in Exploitation? TIAA’s Ties to Land Grabbing and Deforestation
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DownloadPalm Oil Fact Sheet