Wednesday, October 16, 2024

University TIAA: Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association exposed as top 3rd in land grabbing speculation "ecocide investment"

 This includes TIAA, the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association, which speculates in land using the retirement savings of university employees, non-profits, and other pension funds...Investment advisory titan TIAA, which provides financial services and retirement planning at numerous universities, is accused of steering customers toward pricier investment products that boost the firm's bottom line, according to a whistleblower report first covered by NBC News.Aug 6, 2024

https://www.actionaidusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Land-Grabbing-and-Ecocide-Final-compressed.pdf 

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2024/08/06/whistleblower-alleges-tiaa-misled-customers-investments 

 https://www.actionaidusa.org/news/exposing-tiaas-role-in-deforestation-and-ecocide-resources-and-publications-to-help-you-understand-why-we-fight/

https://tiaa-divest.org/rally-september-24th/ 

TIAA divest action 

 In Manhattan, at TIAA's headquarters, Stage One: Our April 1st "Don't Be Fossil Fooled by TIAA" action opened with nine of us quietly entering TIAA's lobby in business clothes. After two of us successfully delivered the petition signed by over 21,780 people urging TIAA to divest from fossil fuels and stop land grabs, we all donned "Divest from Climate Chaos" Tshirts, joined in an outward-facing circle, and testified for 15 minutes about:

  • Who we are, our demands, and the 113 organizations in our strengthening Coalition; the 15 universities and colleges that have passed TIAA-Divest! and stop land grabs Resolutions;
  • TIAA's over $20 billion in fossil fuels including $174 million in Gazprom, Lukoil and Rosneft, the Russian oil and gas majors;
  • TIAA's over 3 million acres in grabbed timberland and toxic industrial agribusiness, harming BIPOC and low-wealth communities in the U.S., Brazil, and elsewhere;
  • TIAA's $750 million in Chevron, $270 million in Shell, $243 million in Exxon, and how all this impacts Indigenous peoples;
  • Climate chaos: how scientist now use words like "unthinkable" and "impossible" to describe the 50 to 90 degree-warmer Arctic and Antarctica;
  • How TIAA invests in Formosa Plastics, resisted by Black-led Rise St James in St. James Parish, LA where residents already suffer high cancer rates due to industrial pollution;
  • TIAA's harm to Africans through its investment in Total ($147.5M) which is extracting crude oil in Uganda, threatening 40 million people's drinking water; and building the EACOP pipeline (East African Crude Oil Pipeline) to Tanzania, harming residents all along the route by taking their land and livelihood away;
  • We resist TIAA's $98M in Enbridge, building the Line 3 Tar Sands pipeline on Anishinaabe land in Minnesota; and
  • TIAA's $100 million in Adani. Adani is now building the notorious Carmichael coal plant in Austalia, also strongly resisted, also ripping the heart out of Wangan and Jagalingou country!
We saw the anxiety among TIAA administrators rise, but then we saw faces turn towards us in curiosity because we know things about TIAA investments that normally they never hear about. TIAA employees on the second floor paused to listen through the open stairway, as our voices resounded, rising, rising. We exited the lobby by our own choice, chanting "TIAA, Listen up! Planet's burning, Time is up!" and walked outside past police and security. We de-escalated any hostility that came our way, because everyone is a human being and most people are somewhere between sad, disturbed and terrified about climate. As we walked outside, things got messy! The Jugheads poured "oil" on the "world" and over 50 more people joined with signs and banners. More photos tomorrow, we promise! From AMAZING solidarity actions in Ithaca, NY; Claremont, CA; Madison, WI; Pittsburgh, PA!

 https://tiaa-divest.org/news/

June 17, 2024: THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS VOTES FOR FOSSIL FUEL DIVESTMENT

(Washington, DC) Delegates at the June 15 meeting of the influential American Association of University Professors (AAUP) overwhelmingly voted to approve a sweeping proposal demanding that TIAA, Vanguard, Fidelity, and state pension boards divest fossil fuels from their funds. 

 TIAA (Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America) offers financial services and retirement planning at many universities, including:

  • Arkansas State University
  • Cornell University
  • Eastern Illinois University
  • Florida A&M University
  • Iowa State University
  • Kansas State University
  • Loyola University Chicago
  • Mississippi State University
  • The Ohio State University
  • University of Colorado 
TIAA is a Fortune 500 organization that provides retirement and retail services to individual customers, and institutional services to clients. TIAA was originally founded in 1918 to provide pensions for professors. TIAA also partners with organizations to provide data-driven content and improve thought leadership. Some of their partners include:
  • College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR)
  • New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE)
  • Pension Research Council of The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (PRC)
  • American Council on Education (ACE)
  • Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU
  •  
  •  TIAA portland oregon action 2022

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