Fossil fuel divestment means removing your money, assets and investments from companies that facilitate the production or expansion of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and gas projects.

ACFA is gathering organisations and people over three areas which represent the most effective, straightforward and compelling strategic divestments for climate action: banks, superannuation funds and power companies. Each represents an area of tangible, concrete impact across major industries.

When you deposit money with your bank, your money is used by the bank to invest in and finance projects to make more profit and return. Unfortunately, many institutions choose to invest in unsustainable and unethical projects - in Australia, the ‘Big 4’ banks NAB, Westpac, ANZ, and Commonwealth have collectively loaned $57.5 billion to fossil fuel projects and expansion since 2016.

In terms of superannuation, in Australia, businesses must contribute a minimum of 10.5% of every eligible employeeʼs salary to a nominated fund. It all adds up: Australia has one of the largest retirement savings pools in the world, with assets worth over $3.3 trillion. Sadly, our superannuation industry, on behalf of millions of members, invests more than $140 billion on fossil fuel projects, a sure bet for climate destruction.

Energy production (burning fossil fuels to produce electricity) is the largest contributor to Australia’s carbon emissions, according to CSIRO. A recent Greenpeace report has exposed that 76% of our energy comes from burning coal. By paying a power company that supports fossil fuel production, we are encouraging further use of unsustainable methods of energy production. For example, AGL is Australia’s biggest coal generator and Australia’s biggest polluter, and in 2021 was responsible for 8% of Australia’s direct emissions. As a singular company, AGL releases 42 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere each year.

By moving power and our assets away from companies who are continuing to invest in an untenable future, we are cutting the financial lifelines of fossil fuel projects, making it harder for them to continue. Divestment also means reinvestment, directing our funds and financial power to support projects that are viable for the future and our communities, driving positive impact in our world.

There are several reports [1] stating that continued investment in fossil fuels and non-renewable energy represents increasing long-term risk and that it is a lot safer and more profitable to invest in other areas. Many suspect that as the renewable energy sector becomes more profitable, shareholders and the fossil fuel industry run the risk of ‘stranded assets’ where the untapped fossil fuel reserves lose value. An analysis by the world’s leading stock market index company MSCI showed that fossil-free portfolios outperformed those that remain invested in coal, oil and gas over the past five years [2].

The Rockefeller Foundation divested a total of $5 billion from fossil fuels including tar sands in 2015, which was especially symbolic given that their fortune was built off the back of the oil industry. In 2020 they published a report showing that their stocks outperformed the market benchmark. Their investment portfolio is now 99% fossil free.

Historically, divestment has been harnessed as a strategy to move money out of the tobacco industry and the Apartheid regime in South Africa. While not the only factor, it was seen as a huge contributing factor to placing pressure on these campaigns, removing Apartheid and tobacco’s social licence. Many major institutions, such as Oxford and Harvard University have all divested from fossil fuels. Campaigns like Groundwater Divest to Invest in the US are mobilising to get 100 theatres to pledge to divest and prevent the use of the arts sector for greenwashing the image of fossil fuel companies and legitimising their social acceptance.

The economic contribution of the core arts sector is not insignificant, accounting for over $4.2 billion of Australia’s GDP. We need to ensure that the financial services and institutions that are vital to the day-to-day operations of artists and arts organisations align with our values.

As creatives who help shape the narratives of culture, we cannot continue to contribute to the warming of the planet and the machinations of globally destructive industries that defy Indigenous sovereignty and lore.  

The banks we choose for funding and payment processing, superannuation funds for our employees’ future, and energy providers to power our community spaces all have large impacts on our society. A divestment strategy is both a simple and inexpensive way that arts organisations can lead the charge on climate action; to put our money where our mouth is and encourage community and organisational level practice that sustains the world we seek to create.

‍“I suspect that the key to disrupting the flow of carbon into the atmosphere may lie in disrupting the flow of money to coal, oil, and gas. Financial institutions can break the power of the fossil-fuel companies.”
- Bill McKibben, author, environmentalist, activist and leader of 350.org