BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, is acquiring large tracts of farmland in Argentina’s Patagonia region as part of carbon offset initiatives, prompting growing concern among activists and local communities over what critics describe as a new wave of “green grabbing.”
Reports citing satellite data and land registry records indicate that, between 2023 and 2025, BlackRock-linked investment vehicles have been connected to significant land purchases in Patagonia aimed at generating carbon credits. These projects are part of a broader global strategy to capitalize on the expanding carbon offset market, which allows companies to compensate for emissions by funding activities such as reforestation or forest conservation.
According to the reports, BlackRock typically operates indirectly, investing through funds that back companies purchasing land outright or buying carbon offsets from existing projects, including forest preservation schemes in the United States. Such projects have themselves faced criticism from environmental groups and researchers who argue that their real-world climate benefits are often limited or difficult to verify.
Patagonia has become a focal point for carbon offset activity, particularly on the Chilean side of the region, where reforestation projects are being promoted as climate solutions. However, these initiatives have drawn scrutiny over their social impact, with critics warning that they can marginalize or displace local populations while concentrating control of land in the hands of foreign investors.
The controversy taps into a long and sensitive history of land ownership disputes in Patagonia. Large-scale foreign ownership has previously sparked backlash, including the Benetton Group’s control of roughly 900,000 hectares and extensive land purchases by wealthy individuals such as Ted Turner and the late Douglas Tompkins, who acquired millions of acres for conservation and eco-tourism projects. While some of these efforts were framed as environmental protection, they also fueled accusations of exclusion and loss of access for local residents.
Indigenous Mapuche communities have been at the center of many of these disputes, facing evictions and legal battles as land is consolidated for conservation, tourism or now carbon offset projects. Community leaders argue that such developments often proceed without meaningful consultation or consent, undermining ancestral land rights.
Observers say the pattern seen in Patagonia reflects a wider global trend. Similar concerns have been raised in parts of Africa and the Amazon basin, where carbon offset and conservation projects have been accused of displacing communities or restricting traditional land use in the name of climate action.
Beyond Patagonia, BlackRock’s expanding footprint in natural resources has also drawn attention. The firm has invested in mining companies operating in Greenland and was recently linked to a $23 billion deal involving ports near the Panama Canal, reinforcing perceptions of its growing influence over strategic global assets.
Critics argue that without stronger safeguards, transparency and community participation, the rapid growth of carbon offset markets risks repeating historical patterns of resource extraction under a green banner. For communities in Patagonia and beyond, the debate highlights the tension between global climate strategies and local rights, as financial giants increasingly move from the background of markets to the foreground of land and resource control.
