Boston, April 24, 2025 – 6.4% of the Chemours Company’s voting shareholders supported a resolution on Tuesday asking the company to adopt a policy to assess biodiversity impacts before mining in ecologically sensitive areas. Green Century, an environmentally responsible mutual fund, and the Felician Sisters of North America filed the proposal.
“Chemours should more thoroughly assess biodiversity risks before they can’t turn back the clock,” said Green Century President Leslie Samuelrich. “Since Chemours mines near ecological gems such as the Okefenokee Swamp, taking extra care to prevent irreversible damage to nature is a no-brainer.”
Chemours, which DuPont spun off in 2015, manufactures and sells “performance chemicals,” including titanium dioxide, a common whitener in products from toothpaste to sunscreen. Most of Chemours’ mining operations are in the North American Coastal Plain, a global biodiversity hotspot, where mining-related impacts such as lowered groundwater levels, water pollution and habitat degradation would be particularly destructive.
Mining in ecologically sensitive areas can drive biodiversity loss and climate change
Overwhelming scientific consensus indicates that mining near the Okefenokee would significantly damage the swamp by drawing down its water level, tripling the frequency of drought and increasing the risk of wildfires. These repercussions would destroy swamp wildlife habitat, damage thousands of acres of adjacent private timberland and release millions of tons of climate-warming emissions.
“Habitat loss affects not only the land and its inhabitants but also the people who depend on the natural resources,” said Sister Jean Sliwinski, Province Sustainability Coordinator for the Felician Sisters of North America. “A broader, more long-term approach to assessing potential mining impacts is vital.”
Chemours doesn’t currently assess potentially irreversible biodiversity impacts from its mining operations, lagging a number of peers that do. The company also has a checkered environmental track record that has cost it nearly $1 billion since 2015 for various violations and spills. The recently voted-on proposal argued that an enhanced biodiversity assessment policy would reduce systemic, financial and competitive risks for the company.
“I don’t think anyone would say that slightly whiter toothpaste is worth irreversible biodiversity loss,” said Green Century Director of Shareholder Advocacy Annie Sanders. “We’ll keep pressing Chemours to ensure that it considers and protects biodiversity before mining starts. That’s what’s best for investors, customers, and the planet.”
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