Tower and Town, October 2015

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Divestment From Fossil Fuels

The fast-growing global movement for fossil fuel divestment is asking institutions to move their money out of oil, coal and gas companies for both moral and financial reasons.

Many institutions, particularly in the US where the campaign started, have committed to divest - universities, major religious institutions, and charitable foundations and, while the impact on share prices may so far be relatively small, the reputational damage can have serious financial consequences. Divestment aims to remove the legitimacy of a fossil fuel industry whose business model will lead to “severe, widespread and irreversible” impacts on people and planet.

“We need an apartheid-style boycott to save the planet. Nobody thought we’d end apartheid by bankrupting the regime. It was about delegitimising them, shifting public opinion, and ramping up political pressure.” (Archbishop Desmond Tutu).

There are 3 times more proven reserves than can be safely burned for a safe future and, for many of the world’s poor, their present world is already changing for the worse from man-made climate change.

A sub-clime financial crisis?

Major financial institutions including HSBC, Citi and Goldman Sachs have warned of the risks for long-term investors posed by fossil fuel investments, par-ticularly coal, and the Bank of England is investigating whether these over-valued assets could plunge the world into another economic crisis.

UK insurer Aviva has stated that it will sell the shares it holds in coal companies unless they prove they are making progress to reducing their carbon footprint, and plans for billions of investment in low-carbon infrastructure.

Fossil fuel investments are creating a “carbon bubble” worth trillions of dollars based on assets that could prove to be unusable.

If you want your money to work for a sustainable future and not support fossil fuels, visit http://moveyourmoney.org.uk/ for help & information about banks and building societies and other investment possibilities.

HSBC, BARCLAYS, LLOYDS, RBS & SANTANDER are the biggest five investors in the fossil fuel industry.

Jo Ripley