TIAA-CREF

Federal agency deems TIAA’s land holdings in Brazil legally null and void
- CRR
- 18 December 2020
A technical report by Brazil’s land reform agency INCRA has deemed TIAA’s land titles in Brazil to be legally null and void.
Brasil: Operações no mercado de terras do fundo de pensão TIAA e da universidade de Harvard são julgados ilegais
- GRAIN
- 17 December 2020
O INCRA e o Tribunal de Justiça da Bahia reconheceram que o fundo de pensão da empresa estadunidense TIAA e o fundo de investimentos da Universidade de Harvard adquiriram ilegalmente centenas de milhares de hectares de terras no Cerrado.
TIAA and Harvard’s Brazilian farm deals judged illegal
- AATR, Rede Social, GRAIN
- 17 December 2020
Brazil's land agency and a state court have determined that pension fund manager TIAA and Harvard University’s endowment fund illegally acquired hundreds of thousands of hectares of farmlands in Brazil’s ecologically sensitive Cerrado region.
US pension fund TIAA embroiled in Brazil land-purchase probe
- Bloomberg
- 17 December 2020
A top US retirement fund and a major sugar producer have found themselves embroiled in a probe into possible breaches of land-purchase rules in agricultural superpower Brazil.
Grilagem no Cerrado baiano resvala na Cargill e em fundo de pensão dos EUA
- Mongabay
- 14 December 2020
Fornecedora da Cargill, a SLC Agrícola desmatou, em 2020, mais de 5 mil hectares de Cerrado para cultivar soja em Formosa do Rio Preto (BA).
Grilagem no Cerrado baiano resvala na Cargill e em fundo de pensão dos EUA
- Mongabay
- 14 December 2020
Fornecedora da Cargill, a SLC Agrícola desmatou, em 2020, mais de 5 mil hectares de Cerrado para cultivar soja em Formosa do Rio Preto (BA). A trader estrangeira, maior empresa privada dos EUA, comprometeu-se a barrar a prática em suas cadeias produtivas;
Grimmway Farms finds a buyer in Indiana
- Bakersfield
- 29 November 2020
Indiana-based Teays River Investments has agreed to acquire family-owned Grimmway Farms – the self-proclaimed largest carrot producer in the world – for an undisclosed sum.
If TIAA’s Roger Ferguson wants to be Treasury Secretary, he should fix his farmland problem
- NFFC, NAMA, ActionAid
- 20 November 2020
TIAA is unusual among financial firms for its aggressive pursuit of farmland, paving the way for financial wealth controlled by companies and individuals to takeover and dispossess rural communities of their farmland.
Ferguson, up for Treasury Secretary, leaves a legacy of misleading claims to social responsibility
- ActionAid & FOE
- 20 November 2020
New report reveals finance firm TIAA initiated unprecedented global farmland investments under CEO Roger Ferguson Jr., while undermining human rights standards.
Faculty request transparency and sustainability for TIAA farmland investments
- Daily Iowan
- 18 November 2020
University of Iowa faculty members write that major collegiate employee retirement savings manager must divest from socially irresponsible farming pension fund investments and be transparent in doing so.
Farmers buy back Riverina holding from US fund
- AFR
- 01 November 2020
American pension fund giant TIAA sold its Southern Riverina farming aggregation between Wagga Wagga and Albury in southern NSW to local Australian farmers after more than a decade of ownership.
Soy traders in the Brazilian Cerrado under pressure as fires continue to burn in the vicinity of silos
- CRR
- 15 October 2020
The Matopiba region is home to the majority of the Cerrado’s remaining vegetation, and, conversely, among the highest deforestation and fire rates in Brazil.

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Carbon land deals

Dataset on land deals for carbon plantations

Events

25 Mar 2025 - Online
Landless Voices: Land & Climate

05 May 2025 - Washington DC, US
World Bank Land Conference 2025: Securing Land Tenure and Access for Climate Action: Moving from Awareness to Action