TIL

This company is 42.8% owned by one of China's largest conglomerates, CITIC Group, which is owned by the Chinese Government.
Source: Shop Ethical (2018)

This company is the world's 2th largest equity owner of companies producing single-use plastic waste, according to Minderoo Foundation's 2021 Plastic Waste Makers Index. Institutional asset managers and global banks are providing billions of dollars to companies that produce polymers from fossil fuels, as much as 100 times more than they provide to companies trying to shift to a circular economy. Plastic pollution is one of the biggest, most urgent threats facing our planet and our health.
Source: Minderoo Foundation (2021)

According to Human Rights Watch: "China's one-party authoritarian state under the Chinese Communist Party systemically curbs fundamental rights. Under President Xi Jinping, in power since 2013, the government has deepened repression at home and sought to muzzle critics abroad. It has arbitrarily detained human rights defenders and lawyers, tightened control over civil society, media, and the internet, and deployed invasive mass surveillance technology. The government imposes particularly heavy-handed control in the ethnic minority regions of Xinjiang and Tibet. The government's cultural persecution and arbitrary detention of a million Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims since 2017 constitute crimes against humanity. In Hong Kong, the government imposed draconian national security legislation in 2020 and systematically curbed the city's freedoms. The government initially covered up the Covid-19 outbreak and later hindered international efforts to investigate the virus's origin."
Source: Human Rights Watch (2021)

Amnesty International's 2020 report on China states "The year was marked by harsh crackdowns on human rights defenders and people perceived to be dissidents, as well as the systematic repression of ethnic minorities. The beginning of the year saw the start of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, which killed more than 4,600 people in China. People demanded freedom of expression and transparency after authorities reprimanded health professionals for warning about the virus. At the UN, China was strongly criticized and urged to allow immediate, meaningful and unfettered access to Xinjiang. Stringent restrictions on freedom of expression continued unabated. Foreign journalists faced detention and expulsion, as well as systematic delays to and refusals of visa renewals. Chinese and other tech firms operating outside China blocked what the government deemed politically sensitive content, extending its censorship standards internationally. China enacted its first Civil Code, which received thousands of submissions by the public calling for legalization of same-sex marriage. Hong Kong’s National Security Law led to a clampdown on freedom of expression." Follow the link for further details.
Source: Amnesty Intl (2021)

Amnesty International's 2021 report 'Like We Were Enemies in a War', outlines how Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region face systematic state-organized mass imprisonment, torture and persecution amounting to crimes against humanity. Muslim ethnic groups are being forced to abandon their religious traditions, cultural practices and local languages.
Source: Amnesty Intl (2021)