Last September, faith communities were among the 800 fossil fuel divestment commitments referenced by Vice President Al Gore in a speech at the UN Climate Summit in New York. Faith groups are joining the divestment movement alongside universities, local governments, banks, medical groups, and foundations.
Here is a chronological review of some of the faith communities that are leading the global divestment movement.
April 2013
The Uniting Church of Australia - New South Wales, an amalgamation of the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches, became one of the first institutions worldwide to divest from fossil fuels.
June 2013
The Council of the First Universalist Church of Pittsfield, Maine voted to sell its more than 1600 shares of Exxon Mobil stock and pledged to make its entire portfolio fossil fuel free within five years. This move is based on one of the church's Seven Principles, "respect for the interdependent web of all existence."
July 2013
The United Church of Christ became the first major denomination to vote to begin divesting from fossil fuel companies.
February 2014
The Uniting Church investment body, UCA Funds Management, announced it would pull out of thermal coal and unconventional oil investments, and in the summer of 2014 the church’s national body, the Uniting Church in Australia, agreed to divest.
June 2014
The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) a faith-based organization of more than 1,000 congregations with an investment fund of $175 million, voted overwhelmingly to divest from fossil fuel companies.
The University of Dayton withdrew all of their petrochemical investments to become the first US Catholic college to divest from fossil fuels.
The flagship of American progressive Protestant theology, New York City’s Union Theological Seminary announced its plans to pull all investments in fossil fuels from its $108.4 million endowment. The unanimous vote of their board made them the first seminary in the country to take such a step.
July 2014
At their yearly meeting, the Quakers Eco-Justice Working Group of Philadelphia announced that more than $2 million of assets have been divested from fossil fuels and reinvested in a new Quaker Green Fund.
The World Council of Churches (WCC), decided to divest from fossil fuels. WCC is an umbrella organization made up of 345 member churches which represents over 500 million Christians in more than 110 countries.
September 2014
GreenFaith released a statement signed by over 80 prominent theologians and religious leaders in support of fossil fuel divestment and reinvestment in a clean energy future.
The New Zealand Quakers also endorsed the divestment movement. The Anglican Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn and the Perth Diocese of the Anglican Church passed divestment motions at their annual Synods.
The Church of Sweden completed full divestment from fossil fuels. The Church of Sweden is a divestment pioneer whose assets totaling $691,292,490 are now completely fossil free.
October 2014
The Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand voted to divest its funds from fossil fuel companies at its biennial General Assembly in Auckland. It also encouraged its church members to do the same with their personal investments.
January 2015
The United Methodist Church's General Board of Pension and Health Benefits announced it would no longer invest its $21 billion of assets in thermal coal companies, or utilities that derive 75 percent or more of their electricity from coal-fired power plants.
February 2015
On February 11th, 2015 a group from Christian Climate Action (CAA) protested against the Church of England's investments in fossil fuels at Church House, London during the General Synod. This follows the General Synod's vote in March 2014 to review its investment policy in respect of fossil fuel companies. At this Synod one bishop referring to climate change as "the great demon of our day".
There are now almost 700 campaigns focused on divestment around the world and that includes strong representation from faith based organizations.
Source: Stewardship of the Environment
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