Washington, DC currently invests in some of the largest polluting companies on the planet, including Chevron, Exxon, BP, and Arch Coal. These companies hold in reserves five times the amount of fossil fuels needed to create out-of-control climate change, if they are burned. Given the Mayor’s ambitions to make the District the “greenest, most livable city in the United States” — as embodied in the District’s Sustainable DC and Climate Action Plans — it doesn’t make sense to be investing in, and profiting from, the climate destruction that fossil fuel companies are creating.
Divesting is not only a moral issue but a financial one. Recent research by HSBC, Citi, and other experts suggests that — if governments take action to prevent climate change — fossil fuel company stocks are significantly overvalued, meaning the District’s portfolios would suffer losses in the face of the “carbon bubble.”
DC Divest (www.dcdivest.org) is a campaign to convince the District to take its investments out of fossil fuel companies. At the urging of DC Divest, the Council of the District of Columbia introduced the Fossil Fuel Divestment Act of 2013 in September. If the Council approves this bill, the District would join a more than 17 other cities who are taking a stand against a fossil fuel status quo in the U.S. which threatens our way of life.
DC Divest needs your help to make this happen:
— Sign the petition supporting the Fossil Free Divestment Act: http://dcdivest.org/sign-
— Share this call to action with your members.
— Invite a member of DC Divest to give a presentation to your members about the need to divest. Contact us dcdiverst(at)gmail.com.
Thank you!
Matt Grason
DC Divest
mattgrason(at)gmail.com