Note that if you purchase something via one of our links, including Amazon, we may earn a small commission.
Take action and control your investments.
Dear Reader,
Welcome back to Just One Thing, your weekly dose of anxiety-busting climate action!
The What: Today’s Just One Thing is kicking fossil fuels out of your investment portfolio or retirement fund. (Let’s retire those fossil fuels instead, shall we?) While most of us can’t direct billions of dollars, we can determine what our own money funds. So let’s put our moolah where our morals are.
The Why: Friends of the Earth points out that “fossil fuel giants like BP and Shell are some of the wealthiest and most powerful companies on the planet, yet they’re using their money and influence to block every serious attempt to stop the climate crisis.” By divesting from companies like these, we’re saying, ‘Nope, you’re not doing your dirty work with my money!’ Divestment hits fossil fuel companies right in their pocketbooks and tells our political leaders that we want a cleaner, safer future. But divestment, increasingly, also makes financial sense, since share prices for renewable companies have grown more than seven times as much as those for fossil fuels over the past decade.
Coal, oil, and gas are a (slowly) dying industry. Smart money is on renewables.
The How: Jon Foley from Project Drawdown (which catalogues the most impactful ways to address climate change) urges all of us to examine where our money is parked and what it’s funding. Lots of us haven’t a clue what’s in our retirement accounts, mutual funds, or ETFs. (A conversation with a financial advisor helped ensure that Dot’s vast fortune isn’t funding any fossil fuel companies!) If you’re in the dark about your investments, there’s a handy tool that can help. Fossil Free Funds offers a “fossil fuel grade” of A through F. Knowing your portfolio’s grade helps you determine how to take action — take a look at Invest Your Values’ handy guide for advice. (Dear Dot also addressed divestment in this column.)
And there’s this great story from Covering Climate Now, a partner media organization.
The More: Inspired to switch banks, too? Banks, after all, are among fossil fuel projects’ biggest funders. In the U.S., Green America can help you break up with your bank. In Canada, Bank Green can guide you toward a more Earth-friendly option.
We save our money to ensure a safer, more secure future for ourselves and our families. Knowing that those investments contribute to a safer, more secure world for all of us just feels like a smart financial decision, and Just One Thing that we can do for a better future.
Committedly,
Dot
For more Bluedot Climate Quick Tips, click here.
