Lessons from PRI in Toronto

This week, I had the pleasure of moderating a fascinating panel that highlighted how Green Century ° and other investors have helped promote conservation by protecting forests and other important wildlife habitats. This took place at the United Nations’ Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI) annual conference.

One of the reasons I was selected for this role is because of Green Century’s 10-year record of advocating for protecting key habitats, along with the people and wildlife that depend on these special places.

For example, Green Century has secured agreements to restrict or stop the razing and burning of forests with some of the world’s largest producers and traders, including Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), * one of the world’s four biggest agricultural trading companies. But we need to do more – and helping mobilize global investors is a critical way we are going to do that.

The conference, which was held in Toronto, attracted nearly 2,000 investors who are interested in sustainable investing and provided a high-profile forum to showcase Green Century’s work in North America, Asia and South America.

UNPRI is a worldwide organization of thousands of investors who prioritize sustainable investing and use environmental, social, and governance data in their investment process. The Principles for Responsible Investment were developed by institutional investors and reflect the increasing relevance of environmental, social and corporate governance issues to investment practices through a process was convened by the UN’s Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The panel displayed the past work of investors that have secured zero-deforestation agreements leading to greater transparency and conservation of endangered species’ ecosystems and habitats.  The conference also kicked off a UNPRI initiative pressing companies to stop interfering with the passage and enforcement of nature and biodiversity regulations and rules.  Green Century’s Director of Shareholder Advocacy, Annie Sanders, sits on the Advisory Group for this new program.

While investors have made considerable progress in securing agreements with companies to stop deforestation, progress has too often been thwarted by corporate influence over public policy.

This was demonstrated last week when EU President Ursula von Der Leyen gave into pressure from a handful of deforesters and proposed postponing the EU Deforestation Regulation for a year. The EUDR, which bans imports of products connected to deforestation, is the most important international forest policy of the last decade.

The delay is occurring while many of the companies who lobbied against the regulations are responsible for clearing large tracts by setting fire to South America’s forests, and new threats are emerging to Asia’s progress. Mighty Earth, one of the leading non-profit organizations, compared this regulatory delay to “throwing a fire extinguisher out of a burning building.”

While there, Annie Sanders and I strategized with our European investor allies on new ways to protect tropical rainforests and savannas as agribusinesses expand their production of palm oil, soy, timber, cattle and rubber and threaten these vital places.   We had the chance to connect in person for the first time with many allies and recruit other investors to join us in this work.

The conference was inspiring and re-energized me to see more investors recognizing the importance of managing these risks and learning how to engage with the companies on these issues.

For example, North America’s Boreal Forest and the Amazon, and the species that depend on them – orangutans, jaguars, giant otters and even pink dolphins – are threatened by agribusiness.

As environmentally responsible investors, we all see the crying need to push for more and help mobilize global investors to join forces to make real world progress and impact.

— Leslie Samuelrich, President, Green Century Funds