Open letter to DFA: I divested from forest destruction and so should you

An open letter from Friends of the Earth member Janet Thew to Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA) CEO David Booth, detailing her decision to divest $100,000 from the firm due to its investments in companies linked to deforestation and human rights abuses.

• Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA) is identified as having the highest number of palm oil companies in its portfolio of any single financial institution in the United States, with over $775 million invested across more than 80 companies involved in palm oil and deforestation.
• The letter asserts that DFA's investments contribute to the destruction of tropical forests, which is cited as a primary driver of global warming and a cause of biodiversity loss affecting species such as Sumatran tigers, orangutans, and African great apes.
• Beyond environmental damage, the document claims DFA invests in firms implicated in severe human rights violations, specifically mentioning a company accused of treating workers like slaves and another involved in arms trafficking in Liberia.
• Janet Thew urges DFA to move beyond its passive investment strategy to become 'deforestation free' and recommends that the firm apply environmental and social screens across all portfolios and use shareholder power to improve corporate human rights and environmental performance.

APA

Thew, J. (2014). Open letter to DFA: I divested from forest destruction and so should you. Friends of the Earth. https://foe.org/blog/2014-09-open-letter-to-dimensional-fund-advisers/

Chicago

Thew, Janet. Open letter to DFA: I divested from forest destruction and so should you. Friends of the Earth, 2014. https://foe.org/blog/2014-09-open-letter-to-dimensional-fund-advisers/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Thew |first1=Janet |title=Open letter to DFA: I divested from forest destruction and so should you |publisher=Friends of the Earth |date=4 September 2014 |url=https://foe.org/blog/2014-09-open-letter-to-dimensional-fund-advisers/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{thew2014open, author = {Thew, Janet}, title = {{Open letter to DFA: I divested from forest destruction and so should you}}, publisher = {Friends of the Earth}, year = {2014}, month = sep, url = {https://foe.org/blog/2014-09-open-letter-to-dimensional-fund-advisers/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }