Local
In 2017, City of Austin’s Employee Retirement System (COAERS) made a pledge to divest 40% of their fossil fuel holdings in the employee pension fund, thanks to the efforts of 350 Austin and the progressive spirit of Austin City officials. This is a small crack on the giant rock that is the oil-rich state of Texas, but such actions have reverberating impacts on the outlook and operations of fossil fuel operations across the state.
World Wide
To date, investment funds, having total investment holdings in excess of $14.14 Trillion dollars, have committed to divesting from fossil fuels related investments. Pension Funds, Colleges, Schools, Religious Trusts, Pension funds, Private Equity funds and entire City Governments across the US have begun to carefully evaluate the impact of their investments and the activities they fund. We now need well intentioned folks like yourself to convince others to carry forward the divestment movement!
Explaining the validity and basic concepts of fossil fuel divestment can be tricky sometimes. However, a single individual or organization’s divestment is a uniquely effective way to accelerate the positive response to Earth’s climate emergency. To help you better understand the arguments and spread the word, we’ve attached a whitepaper, which contains pertinent arguments for fossil fuel divestment.
You can adopt and tailor-make the various financial risks, arguments and anecdotes presented in this whitepaper into your own letter or presentation to any business, institution, board of trustees, City Council member or your own personal wealth manager to convince them to begin selling off their fossil fuel related holdings.
