How your personal investment decisions can help prevent climate change

How your personal investment decisions can help prevent climate change

The Uniting Climate Action Network is offering an online information seminar on personal divestment on the evening of Thursday 3 November, from 7pm – 8.30 pm.

Many Uniting Church members were justifiably proud when the NSW and ACT Synod made the decision, nine years ago, to divest from (take investments funds out of) fossil fuel companies that exacerbated climate change and caused harm to the environment.

This sort of collective action can have a real impact. But did you know that changing where you invest your money could be the most effective action individuals can take to help combat climate change?

Recent research has found that opting for more ethical investment options has a greater impact than the combined annual carbon savings of switching to a renewable electricity provider, substituting all air travel with rail travel and adopting a vegetarian diet. This is because the banks, superannuation funds, insurance companies and governments that have custody of our money often use it to bankroll projects that cause environmental damage or worsen global warming.

The seminar will be led by Market Forces, an organisation that seeks to expose institutions that finance environmentally destructive projects and to help Australians hold them accountable.  Affiliated with Friends of the Earth, Market Forces want to help ordinary Australian align their money with their personal values, rather than just leaving these choices to the big corporations. Two Market Forces staff, Vishad Sharma, Shareholder Action Campaigner and Brett Morgan, Campaigner, will outline how that is possible and how together we can encourage institutions to invest in a way that respects the environment and contributes to a safer climate future. You can hear more about Market Forces vision and purpose here.

You can register for the seminar here.

This event is offered as part of the Uniting Church in NSW and the ACT’s Living the Change series of information forums. Living the Change explores ways individuals and households can reduce their own carbon footprint and care for the environment as part of faith and life.

For more information, contact Deepthi Mathew in the Uniting Advocacy Team at dmathew@uniting.org or 0449 778 381.

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