Money and Climate Change

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The big D. No, it’s not what you think. It’s far more important to the future of human survival on the planet. Today, I want to talk about divestment.

I know for some this, is a foreign word. Investment feels familiar, although potentially for some it’s something we think we’re not involved in. I don’t have an investment portfolio so that’s not something for me to think about, right?

Okay, so investment is about where your money is going. Divestment is the opposite, where is it not going. The most common story about using divestment in a political way was during the South African apartheid era. Companies and countries decided that the pressure they were putting on the South African government to remove apartheid wasn’t working. So they began refusing to invest money in the country. Hitting the bank balance of a country is one way of getting it to pay attention.

But what does this have to do with the climate crisis? Well, it is being funded by some big banks right now. Companies need banks to lend them money so that they have enough money to fund the dirtiest projects, like tarsands, coal mining. Depending on where in the world you live, you can work out if who you do your day-to-day banking with is supporting businesses that are burning fossil fuels. If you find out your bank is helping businesses that you don’t agree with, you can choose to move your banking to another provider. It’s a great idea to let your bank know why you’re moving, although many customer service reps aren’t in a position to make changes to the bank’s investment strategies, you can still have your voice heard.

If you have retirement savings, super or a 401K, finding out if that is invested ethically is important. Often, this is a reasonable sum of money that’s going to be growing for a long period of time. It’s more likely to be invested in shares or ownership stakes in companies than your transactional and savings account so moving this to an ethical provider will have a big impact.

By raising our voices, letting our banks know that these are topics that we care about, we can start to move the conversation forward. Have a chat with your bank today and see where they stand on fossil fuels.