14 DAY TRIAL // Last week, green group Global Witness produced a report saying that former movie star and politician Arnold Schwarzenegger was involved with companies guilty of forest destruction, and was profiting off the demise of natural ecosystems in Southeast Asia.
More precisely, the former governor of California was accused of being part owner of an investment company whose business agenda included backing logging companies guilty of forest destruction.
Mongabay details that, according to Global Witness, the investment company that Arnold Schwarzenegger holds a stake in and which is supporting logging companies is US-based DFA (Dimensional Fund Advisors).
While documenting the links between financial institutions and 50 of the world’s biggest tropical forestry companies, Global Witness found that DFA, about 5% of which evidence indicates is owned by the former movie star, holds shares in 20 of the companies taken into consideration for this report.
“DFA holds shares totaling US$174 million [roughly €126.4] in 20 of the 50 companies chosen for the study, more than any other financial institution,” Global Witness reportedly said in a statement.
“This includes firms implicated in highly destructive, and sometimes illegal, activities wiping out the rainforests of Borneo,” the green group went on to argue. This means that, simply by being part owner of investment company DFA, Arnold Schwarzenegger is supporting forest destruction.
Green group Global Witness was quick to point out that, given the fact that, while serving as governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger many times stressed the urgency of dealing with climate change and global warming, the findings of this report were a tad ironic.
"The industrial-scale deforestation caused by some of the companies that Mr Schwarzenegger profits from accelerates the climate change that he wants to stop. In environmental terms, it’s a weaponised contradiction,” Andrew Simms with Global Witness said in a statement.
Furthermore, “The world is losing fifty soccer fields of forest every minute and private finance is fuelling the destruction. To put his money where his mouth is, he needs to get DFA to cut its investment in these companies or get out of DFA himself.”
The green group says that is has contacted both Arnold Schwarzenegger and DFA, and has asked them to comment on the findings of this investigation. However, it would appear that neither the movie star nor the company has until now made any comments on the matter at hand.
Hoping to draw attention to the problem, Global Witness has been as bold as to piece together a video depicting Arnold Schwarzenegger as a so-called Forest Terminator. The footage is embedded below.
