Your heart might have been with these protesters, but your investments were likely supporting the bulldozers.
By William Huggins
Big banks like Wells Fargo fund the companies behind dangerous pipelines -- like Keystone XL and Dakota Access -- that threaten Indigenous rights, our climate, and communities. If your money is invested with big banks like Wells Fargo, it is helping to fund projects like these, and the environmental and human rights abuses that come with them.
Luckily, your money and your voice have power. Market forces change the world, and collective action by concerned citizens like you can move markets as well as mountains. This is a guide to help you get started on your path to ethical and environmental financial status.
Divestment is a straightforward concept: By removing our investments from the banks, mutual funds, and other organizations that use our money to invest in fossil fuels, you defund the businesses that are poisoning and warming our world.
Many of the major corporate banks worldwide finance oil, coal, and natural gas projects. Investors in the Dakota Access Pipeline include (but are not limited to): Citizens Bank, Comerica Bank, US Bank, PNC Bank, Barclays, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, Royal Bank of Canada, UBS, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, SunTrust, Citibank, and TD Securities.
If you want to create a cleaner, greener world with fewer fossil fuels, your money may be fighting against you. Moving your money out of these banks gives them less capital to finance dirty energy projects. And if you do it publicly, you can send a powerful message that builds consensus toward a cleaner energy future.
Here are some easy ways to remove your, and your financial institution’s, support for fossil fuels:
Take the pledge to divest from Keystone XL, Dakota Access, and other dangerous and dirty pipelines. After you take this pledge, Sierra Club will respond with helpful resources to guide your transition. And click here to tell Wells Fargo to divest from the Keystone XL Pipeline.
Explore a local, more ethical banking service, such as a local bank or credit union. These institutions keep your money in the state, helping the people of your communities through affordable loans and lower interest rates, rather than sending buckets of money out of state to corporate bank headquarters far away, where it goes back out to fund energy projects you oppose. There are nearly two dozen credit unions in the Toiyabe Chapter region. This page will give you more information about specific ethical banks.
One of the banks listed on the link above is Aspiration Bank, based in Los Angeles, which was recently called one of the “25 Most Disruptive Companies of the Year.” Aspiration also donates a percentage of all fees to organizations like Sierra Club. Better yet, Aspiration lets consumers choose how much they get paid for managing their money, which could be $0 (yes, you read that correctly).
Move your investments in mutual funds and retirement accounts away from fossil fuels. It has never been easier. Multiple opportunities exist to fund the green future most of us hope to hand over to our children.
One fund to explore is Aspiration's Redwood Fund (REDWX). Other green investment vehicles include Green Century Funds and Pax World Investments, both of which offer multiple mutual fund options without fossil fuels. A wide variety of players offers other divestment options, including:
Winslow Green Growth (WGGFX),
TIAA-CREF Social Choice Equity (TICRX),
Newberger Berman Socially Responsible (NBSRX), and many others.
Of course all equities bear some risk. This article is a discussion of possibilities, not investment advice. Do your research on past and future potential performance, as well as fee structures, but take heart in knowing the market for green investment opportunities gets better every quarter.
Make Some Noise
Moving your money away from corporate banks and dirty investment funds is only the beginning. An engaged democracy demands we use our voices as well as our buying power. Let elected officials know you are unhappy with continued subsidies to the fossil fuel industry and want to see more investment in solar, geothermal, wind, and electric-powered vehicles in public places. Don’t just move your money away from Bank of America or Wells Fargo—when you switch to a credit union or bank like Aspiration, let the bank you’re leaving know why, because you don’t want your money supporting fossil fuel development.
Contact the boards of companies and urge them to switch to renewable energy and less wasteful practices with water and other precious resources.
Contact the Nevada System of Higher Education and urge them to divest their pension fund from fossil fuels. Come up with your own ideas of how to move our world in a greener direction—at this stage of the game, there are no bad ideas.
Divestment can make a better world. We have an immense amount of power if we choose to exercise it collectively. Take some time to use your power today.
My Personal Divestment Victory
By Lynn Boulton, Chair of the Sierra Club's Range of Light Group
In 2015, the national news was reporting on protests at universities where students were asking their regents to divest from fossil fuels. I realized I hadn’t divested and should because I want to do all that I can do to fight Climate Change. So I asked my Financial Planner to divest my accounts with Gemmer and ICON. He didn’t know what I meant by divestment, which surprised me. So I explained that it meant that my stock portfolios could not include companies in the fossil fuel industry. He talked to Gemmer and found out they have a socially responsible mutual fund and switched me over. Then my financial planner contacted ICON. They didn’t have a divested fund and I might have to change to a different investment firm.
Unbeknownst to me, that led to several discussions between my financial planner and ICON. So today I got a call from my financial planner, “Would I be willing to be a guinea pig?” The ICON CEO is willing to set up a socially responsible fund and test it out on my account to see how well their selection process works and how well the portfolio performs. YES, you bet! My little request over a year ago brought awareness of the issue to my financial planner and helped push an investment firm to create a socially responsible mutual fund option! That made my day.