Indigenous Peoples and Engagement Timeline for Sustainable and Responsible Investing–2016 to 2024
Above: In 2006, Investors came alongside Native advocates to change the Washington DC NFL team’s racist name and logo; in 2020 the team retired the name. This and more investor and shareholder engagements with Indigenous Peoples are highlighted in the latest update to the Indigenous Peoples and Engagement Timeline for Sustainable and Responsible. Image: protest of Washington NFL team in Minneapolis in 2014; photo by Fibonacci Blue.
This article supplements timelines encompassing 1971 – 2005 and 2006 – 2015. Originally published by GreenMoney Journal in 2015, these timelines were coordinated and compiled by Reed Montague of Calvert Investments, with contributions by Steven Heim of Boston Common Asset Management, and based on an earlier timeline created by First Peoples Worldwide.
June 2015 – Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in Canada releases 94 Calls to Action to redress the legacy and enduring harm of Canada’s residential school system. Call to Action 92 specifically defines the corporate sector’s role in reconciliation, urging businesses to adopt the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) as a framework for corporate policy and operational activities that involve Indigenous Peoples and their lands and resources. In addition to ensuring equitable access to jobs, training, education, and long-term sustainability benefits for Indigenous Peoples, Call to Action 92 asks businesses to commit to respectful relationships, provide meaningful consultation, and obtain Indigenous Peoples’ FPIC in economic development projects.
July 2016 – Investors & Indigenous Peoples Working Group (IIPWG) becomes independent group led by Susan White of the Oneida Trust and others, open to all. US SIF spun IIPWG off after providing institutional support since 2007. IIPWG also adopts Native name Yethiya wihe’ that means “We all give to them/We all invest in them” in the Oneida language. Boston Common Asset Management serves as informal secretariat for IIPWG from 2016 – 2019 until First Peoples Worldwide at CU Boulder (now Tallgrass Institute) becomes secretariat in 2020.
2016–2017 – Upon request of Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (SRST), through First Peoples Worldwide, IIPWG organizes investor and bank meetings with SRST to educate them on their opposition to routing of Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) through their traditional territories, threatening their water supply. In fall 2016, Boston Common Asset Management recruits lead investors for shareholder proposals for three of the four oil companies in DAPL consortium: Marathon Petroleum, Phillips 66, Enbridge. In coordination with First Peoples Worldwide and consultation with SRST, IIPWG engaged banks, Wall Street analysts, DAPL JV partners (Marathon, Phillips, Enbridge), and later the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission via letters, investor statements, meetings, shareholder proposals, and public statements.
February 2017–April 2017 – Over 160 investors, including CalPERS, the NY City and the NY State comptrollers, with $1.7 trillion in AUM, call on the 17 banks financing DAPL to support the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s request to reroute the pipeline.
2017 – Over 38% vote in favor of DAPL shareholder proposal to Marathon Petroleum, filed by New York State Comptroller’s Office, for the New York State Common Retirement Fund. 31% voted in favor of shareholder proposal to Enbridge re DAPL. Leads: SHARE, Sisters of Charity of Halifax.
2017 – Standing Rock Sioux Tribe meets with banks financing DAPL. Six banks divest their loans in the DAPL consortium: ABN Amro, ING, BayernLB, Nordea, DNB, and BNP Paribas
June 2017 – First oil flows through Dakota Access Pipeline.
October 2017 – Over 90 investors with $2.67 trillion in AUM call on Equator Principles Association to revise Equator Principles to include Indigenous Peoples’ FPIC and cover countries such as the United States. Equator Principles Association launches revision of the Equator Principles, “EP4”.
May 2018 – Over 100 Investors representing $2.52 trillion AUM sign letter to banks financing oil and gas companies, opposing all efforts to develop in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Letter details harm to the Porcupine Caribou Herd from development and correlating impacts to the Gwich’in Nation’s subsistence and traditional way of life.
2018 – First Peoples Worldwide at CU Boulder publishes case study Social Cost and Material Loss: The Dakota Access Pipeline that examines the numerous impacts attendant to the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) project to highlight the costs that companies, financial institutions, and investors faced by failing to account for the human rights of Indigenous Peoples. Case study asserts that social risk resulting from the absence of adequate Indigenous Peoples’ rights protections has material impacts, estimated to be over $12 billion for DAPL, i.e. costs incurred by owners were at least $7.5 billion, and financiers incurred an additional $4.4 billion in costs for a project that was estimated to cost $3.8 billion.
2018 – First Peoples Worldwide at CU Boulder releases Free, Prior and Informed Consent Due Diligence Questionnaire, a due diligence framework that optimizes beneficial partnerships and engagement with Indigenous Peoples. DDQ is updated in 2024 to encompass self-determined protocols by developed Indigenous communities and heightened due diligence for Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation and Initial Contact.
2018–2019 – Boston Common starts engagement with Albemarle and SQM, major lithium miners in Chile urging them to respect rights of Indigenous Peoples and protect their water. Boston Common uses questions from FPW’s new FPIC DDQ questionnaire.
2019 – Boston Common leads investor coalition with $2.7 trillion AUM, urging Equator Principles Association to require FPIC by Indigenous Peoples in new revision to Equator Principles, “EP4” First Peoples Worldwide at CU Boulder and other groups organize Native peoples participation in regional consultations by Equator Principles in London and Toronto. Final EP4 publishes November 2019 and falls far short of FPIC protocols needed to reduce risk for project finance by major banks. Four major U.S. banks – Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo – exit the Equator Principles as of 2024.
June–July 2020 – Following over 50 years of advocacy by Native Americans, and investors starting in 2006, on July 13, 2020 the Washington, DC NFL team announces it will drop its racist team name and logo. This immediately followed IIPWG investor letters sent in June 2020 to key corporate sponsors FedEx, PepsiCo and Nike after the nationwide protests of the death of George Floyd in 2020. The team adopts new name Washington Commanders in 2022.
September 2020 – Canadian investor advocacy organization SHARE launches Reconciliation and Responsible Investment Initiative (RRII). SHARE works closely with the National Aboriginal Trust Officers Association on RRII, which works with Indigenous and non-Indigenous investors to align capital with reconciliation, and to amplify investor voices in support of Truth and Reconciliation in Canada.
September 2020 – Following action by shareholders and push for stronger commitments to Indigenous Peoples’ rights and FPIC in company operations, CEO and senior executives resign from Rio Tinto after the company’s destruction of the Juukan Gorge sacred sites in Australia by mining projects. In 2021, Rio Tinto’s Chairman also resigns.
June 2021 – Investors urge AT&T to address multiple instances of erasure, bias, and racism against Native Americans by CNN, a property of AT&T’s WarnerMedia.
November 2021 – The Responsible Investment Association Australasia Human Rights Working Group and First Nations Peoples’ Rights Working Group releases toolkit, An Investor Focus on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and Cultural Heritage Protection.
October 2021 – Native Americans in Philanthropy and Candid release extensive Native-centered timeline of U.S. history as part of Investing in Native Communities initiative.
December 2021 – IIPWG investors write joint letter to U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) urging it to include Indigenous Peoples’ concerns in required corporate risks disclosures regarding social and climate issues. Specifically, they urged SEC to require disclosures about material risks related to Indigenous Peoples’ and tribal peoples’ land rights where they are directly or indirectly impacted by listed companies’ operations.
March 2022 – Investors representing $2.09 trillion write to U.S. and Canadian banks that financed Enbridge’s Line 3 tar sands oil pipeline extension in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Investors questioned the banks’ human rights due diligence that failed to consider the lack of FPIC from Native American tribes. Banks included Bank of America, Bank of Montreal, Citi, CIBC, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank, TD, and Wells Fargo. Investors meet with several of the banks and later file shareholder proposals with some banks asking them to adopt comprehensive Indigenous Peoples’ rights policies.
May 2022 – U.S. Department of the Interior releases the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report Vol. I, authored by Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Bryan Newland; Vol. II releases in 2024.
June 2022 – Investors deliver comment letter to the SEC, outlining the materiality of Indigenous Peoples’ rights and need for inclusion of Indigenous Peoples in the proposed climate rule S7-10-22. “When investors are not provided information regarding Indigenous rights risk, they face several burdens if they want to maintain a portfolio that accounts for all pertinent risks,” say investors.
November 2022 – The Center for Indian Country Development launches Native American Funding and Finance Atlas, which maps economic development resources in Indian Country.
2023–2024 – The Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC), alongside the B.C. General Employees’ Union (BCGEU), present shareholder proposals to urge Canadian banks such as RBC, BMO, and TD to operationalize FPIC. These efforts lead to policy updates referencing UNDRIP and strengthened due diligence on Indigenous Peoples’ rights.
2023 – Investors file shareholder proposals in 2023 with six banks and two insurance companies in the U.S. and Canada regarding Indigenous Peoples rights policies. Proposals to Bank of Montreal (BOM), Chubb, Citigroup, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), The Hartford, TD Bank and Wells Fargo addressed Indigenous Peoples’ right to FPIC. Chubb and The Hartford also received proposals that called for Indigenous Rights Risk as part of human rights frameworks, and proposals asking for racial equity audits that include impact on Indigenous Peoples were delivered to BOM, CIBC, RBC A proposal to review Citigroup’s policies on climate and Indigenous People’s rights impacts received a 31% vote, and a proposal for Travelers to provide shareholders with a racial equity audit received a 35% vote.
January 2023 – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issues Final Determination to halt Pebble Mine project in Alaska’s Bristol Bay following over a decade of sustained opposition from Alaska Native Communities due to its potential impact on salmon populations and their traditional way of life. The project was first proposed in 2001, and in 2011, 29 investors including Trillium and Calvert submitted a letter to the EPA urging a 404(c) review process to evaluate the potential mine waste impacts associated with the proposed project.
March 2023 – Lead The Charge campaign launches electric vehicle leaderboard, analyzing 18 leading automotive manufacturers’ supply chains; Indigenous Peoples’ rights was the lowest-scoring category, with two-thirds of automakers scoring 0% and the highest score only 17%. Update in 2024 shows little improvement: eleven companies again score 0% on Indigenous Peoples’ rights and the few companies that ranked on FPIC due diligence perform well below standards (Tesla at 26%, Mercedes at 15%, General Motors at 11%, BMW at 8%, and Ford at 7%).
March 2023 – SIRGE Coalition in support of People of Red Mountain sends letter to General Motors with concerns about violations to Indigenous Peoples’ rights from mining sacred land of Peehee Mu’Huh (also called Thacker Pass), as well as General Motors’ $650 million joint Equity Investment and Supply Agreement with Lithium Americas to develop the Thacker Pass lithium mine. The letter also flags lawsuit filed by Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, Burns Paiute Tribe and Summit Lake Paiute Tribe to further demonstrate the proposed mine lacks social license to operate from directly affected Indigenous Peoples.
April 2023 – Amazon Watch releases Respecting Indigenous Rights: An Actionable Due Diligence Toolkit for Institutional Investors.
June 2023 – U.S. Supreme Court upholds Indian Child and Welfare Act.
June 2023 – First Peoples Worldwide at CU Boulder, Integrated Capital Investing, and Croatan Institute publish guide to catalytic capital practices in Indian Country (U.S.). Drawing from interviews with 22 practitioners comprising philanthropic investors, private investors, Native intermediaries, and Native entrepreneurs, the research demonstrates how creative capital in Indian Country enables long term, culturally aligned success.
July 2023 – IIPWG launches FPIC Working Group to support investors as they seek to operationalize FPIC as defined by Indigenous Peoples through shareholder advocacy.
July 2023 – UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples releases Green financing – a just transition to protect the rights of Indigenous Peoples report.
August 2023 – Insurance industry report from Gwich’in Steering Committee (GSC) shows 20 companies now have a policy to preclude underwriting oil and gas drilling on sacred land in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge since GSC engagements started in 2020. This follows similar commitments from nearly 30 international banks after 2018 investor letter and subsequent engagements by GSC and others.
September 2023 – Indigenous Peoples Rights International and Business & Human Rights Resource Centre launch Shared prosperity models & Indigenous Peoples’ leadership for a just transition resource hub.
October 2023 – Following engagement by Native leaders and investors, the revised Community Reinvestment Act regulations reflect feedback from Indian Country rightsholders and for the first time include provisions to define areas and development activities unique to Native communities.
October 2023 – SIRGE Coalition members publish Securing Indigenous Peoples’ Right to Self-Determination: A Guide on Free, Prior and Informed Consent, which parses extensive considerations that Indigenous leaders face when designing protocols to engage about projects that impact their communities.
December 2023 – Indigenous leaders release open letter to COP28 delegates Ensure Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Are Secured in the “Green” Transition
2024 – In 2024, investors file proposals aligned with Indigenous priorities with 6 banks and one insurance company, including Bank of Montreal, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, PNC, Royal Bank of Canada, Travelers, Wells Fargo. Proposals at JPMorgan, Citi, and Wells Fargo receive 30%, 26%, and 24% votes in favor respectively.
February 2024 – Indigenous Shuar Arutam People (PSHA) and other Indigenous organizations in Ecuador file a complaint about Solaris Resources’ inadequate material risk disclosures. Following Solaris’s response, the PSHA and others send Solaris a statement in June ahead of the company’s AGM and amid falling share prices, denouncing the company’s repeated misrepresentation of community relations to investors.
April 2024 – Indigenous leaders and investors respond to Citi’s “wholly inadequate” report Respecting the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (see also statement to Citi from Indigenous Nations in Peru and an exempt solicitation filed by Citi shareholders).
April 2024 – IIPWG updates language around its priority areas to reflect the need to prioritize respect for all rights of Indigenous Peoples in corporate standards and address the increasing concern that energy transition as well as resource extraction projects are perpetuating harmful impacts.
August 2024 – SIRGE Coalition and other Indigenous Peoples group voice concern about the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) Indigenous Peoples and Mining Position Statement; they request ICMM revise, correct, and strengthen its position urgently.
August 2024 – Following engagement by the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas and allies, Chubb becomes the first insurance company to withdraw from the Rio Grande LNG project due to impacts to Indigenous Peoples; five banks – SMBC, Société Générale, Credit Suisse and two private banks – had previously committed to not financing the project.
October 2024 – By 2024, ConocoPhillips holds18 years of engagement, dialogues and meetings on Indigenous Peoples’ rights issues led by Eder Financial of the Church of the Brethren and Boston Common Asset Management. ICCR has hosted these meetings from 2010 to 2024 with up to 40 investors participating.
October 2024 – Nearly 100 Indigenous leaders from the world’s seven socio-cultural regions meet in Geneva to formalize Indigenous Peoples Principles and Protocols for Just Transition, which defines principles Indigenous Peoples’ require for a just transition. Among commitments to action and implementation, Indigenous Peoples call for comprehensive mapping and due diligence procedures for transition minerals development and for the private sector to take responsibility for any “damage, loss of cultural heritage, and other adverse impacts of mining activities.”
November 2024 – Canadian investors, RRII, and First Nation representatives launch the Canadian arm of IIPWG to coordinate joint actions and educate investors and others.
December 2024 – Indigenous Peoples and allied groups advocate that the Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative (CMSI) draft proposal address significant gaps, uphold Indigenous Peoples’ rights, and meaningfully integrate feedback from Indigenous Peoples. As drafted, standards fail to adequately measure FPIC obligations and need stronger metrics that prioritize Indigenous Peoples’ self-determination and meaningful engagement over corporate-driven benchmarks.
Footnote: The information in this article should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. All investments involve risk, including the risk of losing principal. Best efforts have been made to include accurate information.
Article by Steven Heim is a Managing Director for Boston Common Asset Management, a globally recognized leader in sustainable investing. In October 2023, Steven received the prestigious 2023 Legacy Award from the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), honoring his track record of success in influencing corporate practices, including regarding Indigenous Peoples’ rights. Steven has over 30 years of experience in the responsible investment field. His efforts to protect the human rights of Indigenous Peoples—which included direct engagement with Indigenous Peoples in the Ecuadorian Amazon—have helped catalyze positive policy changes at U.S. and international companies. From 2007 to 2019, he chaired the advocacy subcommittee of the Investors & Indigenous Peoples Working Group (IIPWG), and he helped lead investor engagement to change the name of Washington’s NFL football team, which was completed in 2022. With the IIPWG, he helped lead global investor engagements with major banks regarding the Dakota Access Pipeline and urged global banks to revise the Equator Principles for project finance to respect Indigenous Peoples’ rights. Steven serves on the Board of Directors of Cultural Survival, IIPWG’s steering committee, and the finance committee for the International Funders for Indigenous Peoples.
Additional research for this article was provided by the Tallgrass Institute
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