The conservation organization founded by Prince William that created the Earthshot Prize holds its investments in a bank that is one of the world’s largest fossil fuel financiers, The Associated Press (AP) reported.
The news agency reported that the Royal Foundation is also putting more than half of its investments in a fund advertised as green, which owns stakes in major food companies that buy palm oil from companies linked to deforestation.
“The earth is at a turning point and we face a difficult choice,” the prince, a prominent environmentalist, is quoted as saying on the Earthshot Prize and Royal Foundation websites.
But in 2021, the charity retained more than £1.1m ($1.3m) in JPMorgan Chase, according to recent filings, and is still investing in the company today. According to the 2021 filing, the foundation also held £1.7million ($2million) in a fund run by British firm Cazenove Capital Management. As with JPMorgan, it still holds funds in Cazenove, which had securities related to deforestation from the use of palm oil in May. The foundation invested similar amounts in both funds in 2020, according to its historical filings. As of December 2021, the charity also had more than £10m ($12.1m) in cash.
The investments, which the Royal Foundation didn’t deny when contacted by AP, come as top scientists have repeatedly warned the world must shift away from fossil fuels to sharply reduce emissions and avoid increasingly intense extreme weather events.
Financial experts say investments like the foundation’s can be blind spots for charities and philanthropists. As climate change is an increasing area of focus for foundations and others, organizations sometimes struggle to see where their own investments lie and align them with greener choices, even as there are increasing ways to avoid fossil fuel monies.
Like the Royal Foundation, other foundations, including top-tier UK charities such as the National Trust and the Wellcome Trust, have been criticized in recent years for investing with strong links to fossil fuels or for practices that are harmful to the environment. Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates announced that he sold his foundation’s direct oil and gas interests in 2019.