New database of US mutual funds' holdings in palm oil - shows links to deforestation, land grabs
"Online database brings transparency to mutual funds’ holdings in palm oil", 2 Sep 2016
An online database has been set up to show the global mutual funds with holdings in palm oil agriculture, today’s fastest-growing cause of rainforest destruction. It will enable investors for the first time to discover links between their holdings and tropical deforestation and land grabs. The investors will then be confidently placed to demand deforestation-free investment and responsible policies from retirement plans and other funds.
The transparency tool is the work of the environment group Friends of the Earth and As You Sow,...[which] promotes environmental and social corporate responsibility through shareholder action... Friends of the Earth points out that 10 per cent of the farming of palm oil – which is used in more than half of all packaged products, from shampoo and toothpaste to instant noodles and doughnuts – is financed by equity investors, many of them mutual funds.
[refers to BlackRock, Vanguard, CalPERS, TIAA-CREF and Dimensional Fund Advisors]