More About Corporate Accountability

The Green New Deal: More Than Just the Latest Buzzword

We have eleven years. Eleven years to take bold climate action towards a world not powered by fossil fuels. For our indigenous partners fighting oil and gas extraction on their ancestral territories, there is no time to spare: further expansion of this dirty infrastructure will destroy their land, livelihoods, and way of life.

Bolsonaro Wants to Plunder the Amazon. Don't Let Him.

The Brazilian president's pro-business agenda will be a test of American companies' commitment to the environment.

Mr. Bolsonaro's rise to power will test companies' promises to be responsible. Will leading global agribusiness companies be complicit in Mr. Bolsonaro's assault on the Amazon and its people, thus sacrificing their commitments, their reputation and our climate? And will financial institutions like BlackRock heed their own calls for companies to pursue purpose and not just profit? Or will they put short-term profits ahead of the planet's future?

If BlackRock Has a Purpose, It's Not Confronting Climate Change

On Wednesday, we got some incredible news: the CEO of the world's largest investment firm announced he was radically shifting the company's priorities, including moving money out of fossil fuels because they cause climate change and pressuring the companies it owns to align with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. Yet soon our cheers turned to sighs: the letter was a hoax, created by the culture-jamming artists known as the Yes Men.

California Split Over Carbon Trading Plan for Tropical Forests

U.S. state is due to decide in April whether to adopt an emissions scheme that indigenous leaders say will harm their communities

"TFS could allow oil refiners, which are purchasing oil from Ecuador to turn around and buy offset credits from the same regions in Ecuador that have been devastated by oil drilling," said Zoe Cina-Sklar of advocacy group Amazon Watch. Instead of carbon trading, California should curb Amazon crude imports and take immediate measures to wean itself off fossil fuels, such as freezing new oil and gas permits in the state, she added.

Jair Bolsonaro Launches Assault on Amazon Rainforest Protections

Executive order transfers regulation and creation of indigenous reserves to agriculture ministry controlled by agribusiness lobby

"There will be an increase in deforestation and violence against indigenous people," said Dinaman Tuxá, the executive coordinator of the Articulation of Indigenous People of Brazil. "Indigenous people are defenders and protectors of the environment."

Adapt to a Changing Amazon Now, or Pay Far Higher Price Later, Experts Say

A new study estimates the costs of delaying adaptation to a hotter, dryer Amazon would be orders of magnitude higher than acting now, despite uncertainties

The costs of acting now to adapt to a predicted, dramatic loss of Amazon rainforest would be at least one order of magnitude lower than the economic fallout if we waited and did nothing, a new study says.

Investor Eye on the Amazon

A primer for shareholders concerned about rainforest protection and human rights

The Investor Eye on the Amazon provides an update on our campaigns targeting corporations with ties to dirty industry in the Amazon, and it aims to serve as a resource for socially-responsible investors, industry analysts, and researchers looking to better understand the risks associated with investment in extractive industries - and their own portfolios’ ties to these industries - in the Amazon and beyond.

Illegal Gold Rush Destroying Amazon Rainforest

Researchers identified at least 2,312 illegal mining sites across six countries in South America using satellite imagery and government data

"Illegal mining is a serious threat to the Amazon rainforest and the indigenous peoples who call it home," said Moira Birss of Amazon Watch, a U.S.-based non-profit group. "This report provides important new data and clearly demonstrates the scope of the problem, and as such is a call to action to regional governments and the companies that purchase the illegally-mined minerals to take bold, concrete action to stop the destruction."