Rights Violations - BlackRock's Big Problem
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The Problem: Rights Violations

Destructive finance threatens communities

Continued investments in fossil fuel and climate-harming companies undermine the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities worldwide.

BlackRock has no comprehensive policy on Indigenous rights

In 2020, BlackRock joined the UN Global Compact and committed to support and respect internationally recognized human rights. Despite this public pledge, BlackRock hasn’t changed its policies and continues to invest in companies that directly threaten human and Indigenous rights.

The most destructive companies BlackRock funds are responsible for:

  • Deforestation that harms the climate and biodiversity
  • Destroying Indigenous lands through industrial activities
  • Abusing Indigenous territorial rights
  • Displacing communities from their ancestral homelands
  • Intimidating and coercing Indigenous peoples to relinquish their land

Funding human suffering

With continued investments in companies that threaten and undermine human rights, the facts and statistics on BlackRock are grim.

BlackRock is among the world’s top investors in companies complicit in Indigenous rights abuses

U.S. low-income communities and communities of color are disproportionately exposed to air pollution from fossil fuels compared to whiter, wealthier communities.

Race, not income, is the single greatest indicator of whether a U.S. resident lives near a hazardous, toxic site, including oil and gas facilities.

BlackRock has $517 million USD invested in JBS, which sources cattle from illegally deforested areas of the Amazon, including from Indigenous territories.

(as of September 2020)

CASE STUDY

Pipeline: Enbridge and Line 3

Enbridge Inc. has a track record of oil spills and Indigenous rights violations. The company has been pushing to replace its existing Line 3 pipeline with a larger pipe that would carry 760,000 barrels of tar sands oil per day from Edmonton, Alberta, to Superior, Wisconsin. In November 2020, Enbridge secured final permits for Line 3 from Minnesota and the federal government and began construction in December, despite COVID risks, legal challenges, and sustained Indigenous-led opposition to the project. When construction started, BlackRock had $336 million invested in Enbridge.

The Solutions

Climate change is a complex problem that demands integrated action

This is just one of five financial solutions that BlackRock must implement now to help solve this problem.

Recognize and promote human rights and the rights of Indigenous Peoples
BlackRock must adopt a policy recognizing the rights of Indigenous People. This should include a deforestation policy which addresses not only climate impacts, but standards for human rights and the land rights of Indigenous people.

FAQs

Answers to common questions about how BlackRock and the finance industry fuel climate change and environmental destruction.

How are Indigenous rights connected to deforestation and climate change mitigation?

What can BlackRock do about its passive investments in companies driving the climate crisis?

Change is underway

Climate action groups around the globe have joined forces to fight #fossilfinance. Take a stand against asset managers like BlackRock and take action in your community.

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