Join the next global divestment announcement ahead of COP27

 

“We know that things can change!” Pope Francis, Laudato Si’ 13

Things can change – and they must. A global society powered by clean, healthy, sustainable energy that is accessible to all is possible.  It is being built every day by increasing investments in renewable energy. This is an exciting transformation that is accelerating across the world. However, if we remain invested in polluting, climate-destroying fossil fuels, this change cannot take place. And the poor suffer first and worst from climate impacts, while we are all seeing the changes in our common home. That’s why Catholics and people of good will across the world are divesting, and leading this transformation.

Will you join us? Together with our friends at Operation Noah, World Council of Churches, Green Anglicans and GreenFaith, Laudato Si’ Movement invites your institution to join our divestment announcement, which will take place on Wednesday 2 November 2022, to let world leaders at the UN climate conferences know we want change!

Catholics are called to divest

Over 330 Catholic institutions across the world have already followed the explicit call by the Vatican. In their guidelines, following the 5th anniversary of Laudato Si’, the Interdicasterial Working Group  Of The Holy See On Integral Ecology invited all Catholics to “promote social and environmentally responsible investments, for example by evaluating the progressive divestment from the fossil fuel sector”. During this Season of Creation, we can interpret that God, through the burning bush, is sending Moses on a mission to free his people. God is also inviting us now to be free from polluting, unhealthy fuels; free to build a sustainable future for God’s people.

The acute crisis calls for prophetic action

This call sounds pressing while we face both a climate and an energy crisis. This summer, most parts of the world have suffered unprecedented heatwaves, droughts and wildfires as a result of global heating caused by the burning of fossil fuels. Extreme weather has also caused devastation in Pakistan with floods, submerging over a third of the country under water, 30 million have fled their homes. This year, we have also seen how our global addiction to fossil fuels has fueled war. This addiction is yet driving many people into energy poverty, as fossil fuel prices reach high prices. While the fossil industry plans to extract new oil, gas and coal deposits, we know that this cannot last; this will not last. 

Faith institutions raise their voice ahead of COP27

COP27 in Egypt this year shines the spotlight on the ways in which the African continent has been impacted by the climate crisis as well as by the operations of oil and gas companies. 

As countries have sought to move away from Russian gas supplies, many have looked to increase production in Africa, contrary to the calls of church leaders and communities to end fossil fuel expansion and production. LSM stands with local communities against EACOP, and the human, ecological and climate disaster it would bring. Divestment is one way of preventing this from happening.

 Impact investment is the future

We know that not only does green investing make a positive difference, but fossil fuel investments are the way of the past. Investment managers recognize the increasing risks of fossil fuel investment. Growing rejection of fossil fuels by world governments means that fossil fuel assets will be stranded, and these investments are losing value. This announcement is a great opportunity for Catholic institutions to review their investment policy with the latest science available. 

Ready? Visit this webpage and fill out this form before October 25th. You can pledge to some form of divestment to be implemented in the next five years.

For further information, to register your interest or if you need help to make an institution you are close to, please get in touch with Joseph at [email protected]  before 25 October 2022.

 

Global Divestment Announcement Statement: November 2022

 

The World Council of Churches, Laudato Si’ Movement, Operation Noah, Green Anglicans and GreenFaith invite faith institutions from around the world to join a global divestment announcement on 2 November 2022.

The announcement, which will take shortly before COP27 in Egypt and the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Indonesia, will send a strong message about the need for no new fossil fuel developments and urgent action to address the climate, conflict and cost of living crises.

Divestment from fossil fuel holdings is a powerful act of faith that hundreds of religious institutions around the world have taken to respond to the climate emergency. It represents the shifting of investments out of an industry that is a primary cause of the climate crisis. Furthermore, an increasing number of values-driven investors are investing in solutions to the crisis, and are financing enterprises and initiatives providing access to clean, affordable energy, including zero-carbon energy solutions for the 800 million people without access to electricity.

Any groups interested in joining the announcement will confirm (i) that they have divested from fossil fuel investments; or (ii) that they will divest from any investments in fossil fuels as soon as possible, and within five years at the latest; or (iii) that they do not hold any fossil fuel investments and will not invest in fossil fuels in the future.