For the past decade, the campaign pressuring public and private institutions to divest their holdings in fossil fuels has been one of the strongest aspects of the climate movement, along with direct opposition to new fossil fuel projects. The campaign, launched in 2011 on college campuses, pressured administrators to divest from fossil fuels and reinvest in green energy. It then spread to businesses, non-profits and foundations. According to the climate group Stand.Earth, as of October 2021, a total of 1,485 institutions representing $39.2 trillion in assets worldwide had taken action or made a commitment to divest from fossil fuels.
While these holdings represent indirect investment in fossil fuels, a report titled, “Wall Street’s Carbon Bubble” was published in mid-December by the Center for American Progress and the Sierra Club. It found that the direct financing of fossil fuel projects continues, with the 18 largest U.S. banks and asset managers alone, was responsible for financing the equivalent of just under 2 billion tons of CO2 in 2020, the fifth largest emitter in the world.
Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Adele Shraiman, a campaign representative for the Sierra Club’s Fossil-Free Finance campaign, who explains how the new report complements previous research exposing the role of financial institutions in keeping fossil fires burning.
For more information visit the Sierra Club at sierraclub.org.
