Article Author:
Associated Press
Ed Davey
London (AP) — Conservation charity founded by Prince William, second in line to the British throne and founder of the Earthshot Awards continues to invest. The Associated Press learned at Bank, one of the world's biggest backers of fossil fuels.
The Royal Foundation also invested more than half of its investment in a fund advertised as green, which owns shares in major food companies that buy palm oil from companies involved in deforestation. I'm here.
"The planet is at a tipping point and we are faced with hard choices," the prominent environmentalist Prince said at the Earthshot Awards and on the Royal Foundation's website. there is
However, in 2021 the charity will contribute more than his £1.1 million ($1.3 million) to JPMorgan Chase, according to the latest filings. is still investing in the same company. The foundation also held £1.7 million ($2 million) in a fund run by British firm Cazenove Capital Management, according to a 2021 application. Like JP Morgan, it has money in Cazenove, which held securities related to palm oil deforestation in May. The foundation has invested similar amounts in both funds in 2020, previous filings show. As of December 2021, the charity also holds over £10 million ($12.1 million) in cash.
The investment, which the Royal Foundation did not dispute when contacted by the AP, will significantly reduce emissions and will He has repeatedly warned that the world must move away from fossil fuels. event.
Financial experts say investments like foundations can be philanthropic and philanthropic blind spots. As climate change becomes an area of increasing focus for foundations and others, organizations recognize where their investments lie, even as there are more ways to avoid funding related to fossil fuels. and may struggle to match greener options.
Similar to the Royal Foundation, in recent years other foundations, including high-profile British charities such as the National Trust and the Wellcome Trust, have invested in investments with strong ties to fossil fuels and environmentally harmful practices. faces criticism against Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates announced in 2019 that he had sold his foundation's direct oil and gas holdings. Professor of Operational Risk, Banking and Finance at University College Dublin, Andreas Höppner has helped design several European Union climate benchmarks and was also a member of the Sustainable Finance Group.
"There are more sustainability-focused funds out there," added Heppner, noting a number of funds that are being marketed as sustainable and which he has replaced JPMorgan's products.
There are alternatives to Cazenove's Sustainability Fund. For example, the fund his manager his CCLA targets churches and charities and does not invest in companies with more than 10% of his earnings from oil and gas. Another option for him is Generation Investment Management, partly founded by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore.
The Royal Foundation said in an email that it has followed and exceeded Church of England guidelines for ethical investing since 2015.
"We take our investment policy very seriously and review it regularly," the statement said.
The foundation said the management fee paid to JP Morgan was small, but declined to provide figures.
It is not clear that Prince William had a role, if any, in the investment decision, as he did not respond to his AP's request for comment. In an email, JPMorgan Asset Management declined to comment on questions about charities that invest in their products, despite their track record of funding fossil fuels.
Bloomberg data shows JP Morgan has underwritten more bonds and loans to the fossil fuel industry in his five-year period to 2021, earning more fees than his competitors. increase.
The environmental NGO Rainforest Action Network explored direct lending and equity ownership, in addition to bonds, and found that between 2016 and 2021, JP Morgan's banking division will invest more in fossil fuel companies. estimated to have provided approximately $382 billion to This was more than any other bank.
"Major investors have a choice of companies to manage their assets. Mission-driven institutions have options far beyond the world's worst fossil fuel banks," says Rainforest Action Network. said Jason Disterhoft, senior energy campaigner at .
He is one of the world's largest banks.J.P. Morgan is also a major investor in green projects and says he will invest $1 trillion in these projects over the next decade. Setting goals. However, according to Bloomberg data, revenue from green projects since the 2015 Paris Agreement has nearly tripled to about $985 million.
Compared to other charities, the Royal Foundation's investments are small and have little impact on climate change. But they don't align with the foundation's ethos, which lists protection and mental health as its main focus, nor Prince William's official statements. According to the charity's website, "a global search for solutions to save our planet," the Earthshot Prize provides up to £1 million ($1.2 million) in grants each year to help people face environmental challenges. Awarded to projects that are In July, the Royal Foundation announced that the Earthshot Awards would become an independent charity, with Prince William as president.
Prince William has been outspoken about the environment for years, in launching and presenting awards and in other public forums. He argued that entrepreneurs should focus their energies on saving the planet before investing in space travel, and encouraged his parents to ensure their children had the same outdoor opportunities as they did. I urged them to think about what they are not doing, and encouraged conservation.
"In 2022, today as the Queen celebrates her platinum Jubilee, the urgent need to protect and restore our planet is more urgent than ever. I'm 'II's Platinum Jubilee.
Royal Foundation policy does not allow ownership of shares in oil companies, tobacco or alcohol. However, the profits from the Royal Foundation's account will allow JPMorgan to lend more money to the many oil companies it supports, enabling their expansion. Similarly, investing in companies with troubled palm oil supplies could help fund unsustainable practices.
The Cazenove Fund is marketed as “sustainable,” according to data from Morningstar Direct, but as of May 31, the fund held Nestlé shares at around $6 million and Reckitt Benckiser. He owned shares worth $8.1 million. Nestlé and Reckitt Benckiser face disputes over palm oil supplies. Clearing rainforests for palm oil plantations is one of the largest drivers of deforestation in Southeast Asia.
Nestlé is the world's largest food and beverage manufacturer, while Reckitt manufactures popular US brands such as Lysol and Woolite, and UK favorites Vanish and Dettle. doing.
A 2021 investigation by environmental NGO Global Witness found that both companies sourced palm oil through intermediaries from illegally logged areas in Papua New Guinea. The plantations responsible were also accused of corruption, using child labor, and paying police to attack protesters.
According to another 2021 report by sustainability analyst Chain Reaction Research, both companies are Indonesian companies with associated mining projects accused of deforestation in orangutan habitat. I bought palm oil from
A 2020 study by Chain Reaction Research found that more than 1,235 acres (500 hectares) of rainforest in Indonesia's Papua province (more than 1,000 American football fields) is being used as a giant food and oil supplier. It turned out that it was felled by the Wilmar Company. Both are producers who source palm oil.
Reckitt's head of sustainability, David Croft, said no contaminated palm oil from his New Guinea facility in Papua had ever entered the company's products. but admitted that the factory was previously on his list of suppliers. He said an intermediary company linked the supply chain between Reckitt and the Indonesian mining conglomerate was under investigation. Croft said in January 2022 he had "lively discussions" with Wilmar, which stopped sourcing from Papua plantations. In a public statement released in response to the Chain reaction company's investigation, Wilmer disputed that the cleared areas were high conservation value forests.
Despite "relatively few palm oil users," Croft said Reckitt knew there was more to be done and was accelerating its progress. Croft said Reckitt said he couldn't get all the products he needed from certified producers by 2026. Nestlé works with underperforming suppliers to help them make changes and monitor performance, she said.
According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, 60% of Nestlé's palm oil supply will be declared sustainable by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, an industry-organized effort in 2021. Certified.For Reckitt, that figure was 15.3%.
Keller said more than 90% of Nestlé's palm oil will be zero deforestation by winter 2021 and zero deforestation by the end of 2022. We use supply chain maps in the field. Satellite surveillance for verification and verification. Nestlé is moving towards a "model for protecting and restoring the world's forests," Keller said.
Lily Tomson of responsible investment charity ShareAction said that while Cazenove has demonstrated some leadership on sustainable investing, it is "an area where charities such as the Royal Foundation can advance. is left," he said.
Investors can vote on key environmental issues for the companies they own. For example, you can vote on goal setting or climate lobbying in line with the Paris Agreement. But Cazenove's parent company, Schroders, voted against 22% of last year's environmental resolutions, a ShareAction survey revealed.
Cazenove Capital's head of sustainability, Kate Rogers, said the company is working with her Nestle and she's working with Reckitt to see progress in deforestation.
Environmental factors are ingrained in the company's decision-making, she said, and all investments are evaluated for sustainability. Cazenove has committed to eliminating commodity-driven deforestation from its investments by 2025, and a new voting policy means that as of June 2022, the company will have 60 climate change directors on the boards of its investee companies. He said it meant he voted against it for lack of measures.
Dr Raj Thamotheram, formerly Head of Responsible Investment at both the $109 billion UK University Pension Fund and AXA Investment Manager, believes foundations should be better regulated. and should produce an annual report detailing how to do so. Their investment strategy aligns with their mission.
Thamotheram, who is now an independent counsel, called unsustainable investments "a major blind spot in culture and governance" and said they were unique to the philanthropic sector.
"This is a status quo approach and needs reform," he said.
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