Some 20 investors managing $695 billion in assets collectively have asked a chemical company to avoid mining a wetland in the US for titanium, in a letter on Tuesday.
Financiers including Green Century Capital Management, Trillium Asset Management, and Amalgamated Bank signed a letter asking Chemours to make permanent its near-term commitment to avoid mining the Okefenokee Swamp.
The 177,000-hectare Okefenokee, which straddles the states of Georgia and Florida, is home to more than 1,000 species of plants and animals.
“Disrupting the Okefenokee’s unique ecosystem with risky and unnecessary titanium mining would not only be irresponsible, but potentially catastrophic for the planet,” said Annie Sanders, director of shareholder advocacy at Green Century Capital Management.
“Mining near an ecological gem is rife with business risks. As a massive carbon sink and one of the world’s largest intact freshwater wetlands, the Okefenokee is the last place we should be mining for anything,” Sanders told Carbon Pulse.
Obtaining titanium near the Okefenokee could put companies at risk of avoidable challenges, including climate-related issues, regulatory hurdles, legal liabilities, and reputational damage, she said.
The investors said they hope to discuss with Chemours how it is mitigating mining risks. They asked for a response to the letter by the end of September.
They also praised Chemours’ commitment to maintaining the value of the Okefenokee Swamp in 2022, which followed a shareholder filing from Green Century. “However, the threat to the Okefenokee has never been greater.”
The wetland faces heightened risks from proposals from several companies to mine titanium in the region, they said.
Twin Pines Minerals received draft permits for mining an eastern area of the swamp that helps maintain its integrity, the letter said.
“Overwhelming scientific consensus has emerged, since Chemours’ 2022 commitment, that Twin Pines Minerals’ project would significantly damage the Okefenokee by drawing down its water level, tripling the frequency of drought and increasing the risk of landscape-level fires,” the letter said.
“Such events would destroy swamp wildlife habitat, damage thousands of acres of adjacent private timberland and release millions of tons of CO2 emissions.”
The Okefenokee stores millions of tonnes of CO2-equivalent gases, making it one of the most significant natural carbon sinks in the US, the letter said.
Last voting season, the US regulator blocked three Green Century proposals on sourcing titanium-related products from around Okefenokee. The agency said the filings – at Chemours, Sherwin-Williams, and Home Depot – looked like micromanagement.
LIST OF SIGNATORIES
- Adasina Social Capital
- Amalgamated Bank
- Farm Girl Capital
- Felician Sisters of North America
- First Affirmative Financial Network
- Green Century Capital Management
- Greenvest
- Horizons Sustainable Financial Services, Inc.
- Impact Investors, Inc
- Maryknoll Sisters
- Natural Investments
- Newground Social Investment
- NorthFork Financial
- SharePower Responsible Investing
- Sisters of Mary Reparatrix
- Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia
- Sustainable Advisors Alliance, LLC
- Transformative Wealth Management, LLC
- Trillium Asset Management
- Anonymous Investor
By Thomas Cox – t.cox@carbon-pulse.com
*** Click here to sign up to our twice-weekly biodiversity newsletter ***
