We're
igniting some Wall Street heat.
By and
People around the world are pressing their leaders to act on
climate change and fueling change on their own.
With U.S. political leadership on climate policy in a shambles,
many Americans are taking matters into their own hands. Nearly 400,000 people
marched in New York City to call for a stronger response to climate change.
Hundreds of thousands more joined this chorus at another 2,800 marches in 166
other countries.
We decided to do our part by igniting some Wall Street heat. Our
achievement? Building a platform where
people can pledge to divest from
assets tied to the old fossil-fueled economy and invest in the emerging new
energy economy powered by more sustainable alternatives.
We’re joining college endowments and other non-profit and
private institutions — and increasingly, local governments in a broad-based
effort. To date, people and organizations have collectively pledged to move $50
billion out of the top 200 oil, gas, and coal companies and into climate
solutions.
This is the kind of people-powered effort that can slow the pace
of climate change. We will ramp up as global leaders work out the commitments
they’ll make at the next big climate summit — scheduled to take place in Paris
at the end of next year.
We’re pressing for real and fast-paced climate solutions so the
Paris summit doesn’t lead to the same kind of toothless declaration that the
Copenhagen climate summit yielded in 2009.
Additional street heat is emanating from efforts focusing on
everything from energy efficiency to building more resilient communities and
vibrant local economies.
The global divestment movement already spans some 550
universities, cities, states, and religious institutions across the United
States, Canada, Australia, and Europe.
This reach goes even further than that. South African
Archbishop Desmond Tutu has
embraced it. He’s urging the world to adopt the tactics that brought an end to
South Africa’s racist apartheid system against the worst carbon polluters.
“It makes no sense to invest in companies that undermine our
future,” he has said. “To serve as custodians of creation is not an empty
title; it requires that we act, and with all the urgency this dire situation
demands.”
The Divest-Invest movement aims to revoke the social license of
fossil fuel industries that obstruct effective policy responses to today’s
climate emergency. Together, we’re accelerating the urgently needed redirection
of capital toward an array of new energy economy options.
Individual investors don’t need to wait for governments to get
their act together to help avert climate catastrophe. You can resolve today to
move your dollars out of destructive fossil fuels and into a renewable energy
future.
You’ll be making a moral statement by breaking your financial
ties with the engine of a dirty economy and taking a smart long-term step by
shielding your own investments from future financial
risk and volatility.
To finally reach a real turning point in climate policy, each of
us needs to fully engage. We all need to let our leaders know that we want to
see real climate action, and do what’s within our power to change the current
paradigm.
We hope our leaders get the message. In the meantime, everyone
can put their money where their mouth is — as individual investors, students
and alumni of higher education institutions, members of religious institutions,
and stakeholders in local governments.
Lisa Renstrom and Chuck Collins are the co-founders of Divest-Invest Individual,
a movement of individual investors divesting from oil, gas, and coal and
investing in the emerging new energy economy. You can take the fossil-free
investment pledge at DivestInvest.org/Individual
Distributed via OtherWords.org
Distributed via OtherWords.org