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Is your retirement invested in climate chaos? Sign here to ask every employer in America to offer fossil free retirement options -- like a fossil free 401(k) -- to their employees.
Friend,
For most of us "investing" means taking advantage of the 401(k) or similar plan at work. In fact, workers like you and me have invested more than $4.4 trillion in 401(k)s and similar retirement plans already.
But did you know that almost all of those plans invest in fossil fuels that threaten the future of our planet, people and economy? It's true! Most mutual funds and retirement plans own dirty fossil fuel companies like ExxonMobil, Arch coal and more. But how do we fight back for a fossil free retirement? Do you even know how to check if your company’s retirement plan buys coal, oil or fossil fuel stock?
We've teamed up with a coalition of green investment advisors and market experts to give everyone with a 401(k) a shot at a fossil free retirement. Together, we're demanding every American employer offer fossil free retirement options to their employees, and giving you the tools to check out your own retirement plan and organize a divestment drive at your workplace if you want. If you’ve got a 401(k), or even just a job, click here to join our call for fossil-free retirement options at every American workplace.
Scientists tell us that to stop the worst impacts of climate change, we need to leave 80 percent of known fossil fuel reserves in the ground and make a rapid transition to 100 percent clean energy by 2050.1 That means a share of a big oil company, with a 20 year plan to drill in the arctic, or a utility betting on China building a new generation of coal plants are both bad ideas and bad investments.2
But your 401(k), mutual fund or pension could be hiding a dirty secret. Even funds that sound benign might contain enough oil, coal and fossil fuel stock to threaten our shared home. One popular fund (NYSEARCA:SPY), for example, contains over $19,000,000,000 in dirty oil, coal and gas investments -- that’s over 11 percent of the total assets!3 Even some funds that are marketed as “sustainable” can contain substantial investments in the oil and gas sector or fossil-fired utilities.4
Divestment from fossil fuels isn't a fad anymore. Even the U.S. Dept. of Labor says that considering an investments impact on the climate and our planet is the legal duty (also known as fiduciary duty) of every mutual fund and investment advisor.5
The first step to cleaning up our collective retirement is to build a coalition of peers and interested co-workers. -- Our voices will be much stronger as a group. Click here to take the first step, and sign on to our call for all employers to offer a fossil free retirement option.
Thanks for taking Divestment Personally
Drew and the Divest Invest crew at Environmental Action
1- Brad Plumer, The world’s climate scientists explain how to avoid drastic global warming. It’s not easy., The Washington Post, September 27, 2013
2 - Katie Valentine, Why 175 Oil And Gas Companies Could Go Bankrupt This Year, Think Progress, Feb 16, 2016
3 - Fossil Free Funds, SPY — SPDR® S&P 500 ETF
4 - Fossil Free Funds, KLD — iShares MSCI USA ESG Select
5 - Michael Trupo, New guidance on economically targeted investments in retirement plans, US Labor Department Oct. 22 2015
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