Monday 8 December 2014

Ethical Investing

A Response to the Current 2014 12 08, 9:30 am

Dear Anna Maria Tramonti;

Many of your guests were missing the point or downplaying the urgency of the Fossil Fuels divestment movement.  The problem we are facing as a human species is that we have an extremely limited world carbon budget to spend.   In 2012, that budget was 565 Gigatons that could be safely burned and still meet our world-accepted target of two degrees Celsius.  It is less now.  The existing reserves at that time were 2795 gigatons.  That would mean we would have to leave 4/5 of current reserves in the ground and not develop them – at least not for use as fuel.  The IPCC has made this information clearly available to all.

This means that new reserves recently reported in the Arctic must not be developed.  It means we should not triple production in the tar sands.  It means that if the oil sector wants to stay in business in an ethical, sustainable way, it has to take the immense profits our system has allowed them to make out of oil and gas and coal, and use that money to develop our future—a future that does not involve burning oil and gas.  So much of our capital is locked up in these huge extractive industries focused on environmentally destructive megaprojects.  We have to release this capital in order to build a new sustainable way of living that respects the earth and all life.

I want to invest in an energy company that is developing electricity storage systems for renewable energy.  I want to invest in a company that is building the infrastructure for electric vehicles across North America so I don’t have to fill up at the pump with gasoline.  I want to invest in new ways to heat my home, and in any kind of processes that help us conserve and use less energy.  Mr. Yeager from the Wild Rose party pays a disservice to the people of Canada when he says we don’t know where our gasoline comes from.  He accuses us of being ignorant and stupid.  It is the oil industry that has its head in the sand. 

The small bits of tinkering discussed by Michelle Du Cordova of NEI Investments will not be enough.  I agree with her that there will be a place in the mix for oil companies – especially those focused on supplying plastics.  But it will be a much smaller place than what they have now.  We need to take all our capital, and all our creativity and ingenuity and make a transition to 100% renewable energy for as many sectors as possible by 2030.   I hope Ms. Cordova will take her clout as a shareholder and begin to communicate this message to our oil company leaders.

In the meantime, to invest in fossil fuels is to sentence our grandchildren to a dangerous, chaotic, uncertain future.  It is so stupid, when we can already see that an economy based on renewable energy has the potential to create more, better-paying jobs, distribute wealth better all over the world, and do much less damage to the environment.

Working for a better future for all humanity and companion species,

Rev. Frances Deverell
Retired Unitarian Minister in the Community in Ottawa and

Ottawa host, ClimateFast.ca