Yunnan Baiyao Group Co., Ltd.

Yunnan Baiyao Group Co., Ltd., a major Chinese pharmaceutical company with a market value of approximately $15.7 billion, manufactures and sells traditional Chinese medicine products that incorporate body parts from pangolins—a genus of mammals where all eight species are listed as vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered. The company’s use of pangolin scales is central to its product line, which is marketed for veterinary and human medicine. A 2021 scientific review by Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine found no reliable evidence that pangolin scales possess special medicinal value, underscoring that demand is driven by unproven traditional claims rather than efficacy.

The Norwegian Council on Ethics, acting for the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, investigated the company and recommended its exclusion in May 2021. The Council’s investigation concluded the company’s trade in pangolin parts creates an unacceptable risk of contributing to severe environmental damage and the potential extinction of these species. The company asserted it purchased scales legally from official stockpiles, but the Council maintained that using parts from endangered species—regardless of claimed legality—entails an unacceptable risk, as it perpetuates demand that fuels illegal wildlife trafficking. Norges Bank formally excluded Yunnan Baiyao from the Government Pension Fund Global on December 21, 2021, based on this recommendation.

The company has not disclosed the volume of pangolin parts it uses, the origin of those parts, the size of its stockpiles, or how they are replenished. Crucially, Yunnan Baiyao has presented no specific plans to replace ingredients derived from threatened species with alternatives, nor has it committed to phasing out their use. This lack of transparency and absence of a transition plan means the company’s core business model continues to depend on the exploitation of critically endangered wildlife.