Fighting climate change at the bank
October 1, 2019 2:53 PM   Subscribe

This article on the blue was really inspiring as a strategy to address climate change by focusing pressure on financing institutions to move away from the fossil fuel industry. Now that I'm excited to do something to support this, and I'm looking for help in deciding how to do this.

The climate strike last week has me all fired up to try to do more to fight climate change!

I bank with TD (here in Canada), which is one of the worst 10 banks for financing the fossil fuel industry according to the RAN report discussed in the New Yorker article. We have chequing/saving accounts, credit cards, and some investments with TD.

There's a local credit union called VanCity that claims to be carbon-neutral, states they do not invest in fossil fuels, etc. It looks awesome.

From what I've read online, divestment (removing fossil fuel stocks from an investment portfolio) does not have a significant impact on publicly-traded fossil fuel companies since there are many other investors happy to buy the stocks. However, my scenario seems different- TD will lose the fees it accrues from managing my money, and VanCity will gain them on the basis of their smarter environmental policy.

My snowflake questions are as follows:
- Does this logic make sense?
- What's the best way to maximize the impact of this decision? I'm happy to write letters to TD explaining why I'm leaving, post on social media, etc., but I'm not sure how best to target.
- Are there any resources available if I want to tell my friends who don't live nearby to also consider switching? The RAN report only lists the bad banks, not the good ones. The comments on the blue mention Bank of the West as one option. I'd love it if there was a website that ranks banks on this, especially if it included Canada.
- If you live in Vancouver and bank with VanCity, do you like them?
posted by beepbeepboopboop to Society & Culture (4 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
I have been thinking the same thing - I have a mortgage and several credit cards with Chase, it would be worth the hassle to move things if I thought it would be part of larger movement that would send a message.
posted by metahawk at 3:25 PM on October 1, 2019


Another thing to consider: Socially Responsible Investing. They are the ones who will try to influence board decisions in these companies.
posted by amtho at 4:19 PM on October 1, 2019


The author of the New Yorker article was the founder of the activist group 350.org. I think it is worth looking into whether they are sponsoring anything that would broaden the impact of such actions.
posted by metahawk at 9:18 PM on October 1, 2019


Where does the city of Vancouver bank? Where are the public pension funds invested and who is organized around divestment? I think pushing for institutional divestment is immensely valuable because it makes an individual decision into a political, collective decision. A quick search found this British Columbia primer on municipal divestment.

I recently found out the pension fund I am now qualified for has investments in private prison companies ($#*&^!%). I also am remiss in not looking into where my university puts its endowment money.

Collective movements for divestment aggregate our individual choices. Or if there isn't a local project on individual -> collective divestment, maybe try to make a baby one to see if your social circle can come together on this. I just remembered that "giving circles" is a thing, perhaps "divestment/reinvestment circles" could be a thing. Get 10 people to join you, link up with the local climate justice org and then send out a press release targeting the biggest bank locally that funds fossil fuel industries?
posted by spamandkimchi at 9:23 AM on October 2, 2019


« Older So Bad at Masturbating   |   The next best thing to a dinner pill Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.