“Sound corporate governance practices, including how companies manage the material environmental and social factors inherent to their business models, have the potential to impact the long-term value of our clients’ assets,” BlackRock said in a statement provided to Al Jazeera. Of the 167 deforestation-risk companies identified by the researchers, BlackRock held shares in 61 of them – valued at $1.5bn by the end of last year. “There are not a lot of worse companies out there than the companies on list.”

“I don’t believe that BlackRock and their providers are even looking at deforestation risk,” he told Al Jazeera. Jeff Conant, the report’s lead author and senior international forest programme manager with Friends of the Earth US, said that “BlackRock’s investments are directly causing the forest fires in the Amazon and deforestation around the globe”. The data reveal that BlackRock’s holdings in six sectors – soy, beef, palm oil, rubber, timber and pulp/paper – have increased by more than $500m in the last five years. The report, BlackRock’s Big Deforestation Problem, looks at financial data from 2014 to 2018 showing the global investment management firm to be among the top three shareholders in 25 of the planet’s largest publicly traded companies with “deforestation risk”. With $6.5 trillion of assets under management, BlackRock was labeled the “ world’s largest investor in deforestation” by the report’s authors – Friends of the Earth US, Amazon Watch, and Dutch research firm Profundo. We did this hike clockwise from the parking area and only retraced our steps for less than 1/2 of a mile.As Amazon fires spark unprecedented deforestation, a report released on Friday shows that BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, holds extensive investments in the sectors deemed responsible for the devastation of forests in Brazil. We arrived at the parking area at approximately 9:15 am and there were only several cars in the lot. It was a beautiful August day with temps in the low 80’s, sunny and slightly humid. One man and his dog at Black Rock summit, a woman walking her dog on a nearby trail and a couple walking in the opposite direction as we approached the parking area at the conclusion of our hike. We spent a good portion of the day there and only ran into a few people. I hiked the area a few years ago and decided to pay a return visit. There is a network of old logging and mining roads, and together with cut footpaths, provide over 30 miles of trails in Black Rock Forest. Trailhead parking: Black Rock Forest Main Parking Lot – Reservoir Rd, Cornwall, NY 12518īlack Rock Forest is located in the western Hudson Highlands region in Orange County, NY, mostly in the town of Cornwall, with the southern fringe overlapping into the neighboring town of Highlands. At 3,870-acres, it is the largest area in the Highlands with a sustained elevation over 1,200 feet, providing the hiker with sweeping vistas and strongly contrasting habitats. Map: West Hudson Trails Map – Black Rock Forest Consortium Web Map Max elevation: 1,391 ft.– total elevation gain approximately 1,247 ft. Difficulty: Moderate – Strenuous (3 steep climbs and 1 steep descent)

Blackrock forest