BlackRock and CBUS faces pressure over investee company China Shenhua Energyโs plans to destroy Aboriginal artefacts
โInvestors face pressure over miner set to destroy Aboriginal artefactsโ, 16 June 2020
The worldโs largest asset manager and a top superannuation fund are facing pressure to explain investments in a Chinese conglomerate set to destroy ancient Aboriginal artefacts at a coal mine in regional NSW.
China Shenhua Energy โฆ is planning to construct an open-cut mine next to the Liverpool plains near Gunnedahโฆ
The mine has been fiercely opposed by the site's traditional owners, the Gomeroi peopleโฆ
โฆ BlackRock โฆ has hundreds of millions dollars invested in China Shenhua Energyโฆ
CBUS also confirmed a small investment in the firmโฆ
Failures by mining companies to preserve Indigenous artefacts have come into sharp focus after โฆ Rio Tinto โฆ decimated a 46,000-year-old site โฆ against the wishes of its traditional owners.
Gomeroi woman Dolly Talbott called on major institutional investors to boost transparency about where they put their clients' money.
[CBUS] said it was considering divesting its stake โฆ and would ask its investment managers to incorporate First Nations heritage issues into engagement strategies.
BlackRock has โฆ pledged to reduce its holdings of thermal coal. The firm's founder โฆ has also been a prominent supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement.