Tuesday, January 07, 2020
London
and NYC Mayors Call on Every Major City in the World to Divest From
Climate-Destroying Fossil Fuels
"Instead of having to move cities, let's move money!"
commondreams.org/news/2020/01/07/london-and-nyc-mayors-call-every-major-city-world-divest-climate-destroying-fossil
New
York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (L) and London Mayor Sadiq Khan (R) participated
in a forum on inclusive cities and combating Islamophobia hosed by Laguardia
Community College in Queens on Sept. 18, 2016. (Photo: Albin Lohr-Jones/Pacific
Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Ahead
of a forum for local leaders from across the globe scheduled for March, Mayors
Bill de Blasio of New York and Sadiq Khan of London on Tuesday urged every
major city in the world to divest from the fossil fuel industries that are
wrecking the planet.
"This
toolkit will demonstrate to other cities that taking action on divestment is
not only achievable but also essential to investing in our future."
—London Mayor Sadiq Khan
—London Mayor Sadiq Khan
As
part of their global call, the mayors unveiled a toolkit for
cities interested in divesting their pension funds from fossil fuels "to
help avert climate breakdown."
Divesting from
Fossil Fuels, Investing in Our Future: A Toolkit for Cities (pdf)
is a product of C40 Cities, a network of
94 municipalities whose leaders collectively represent over 700 million people
and are committed to pursuing actions to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris
climate agreement.
"By
taking Divest/Invest action, mayors around the world can demonstrate their
strong climate leadership and signal their support for achieving the crucial
1.5°C goal," the toolkit says, referencing the Paris accord's aim to limit
global temperature rise this century.
The
resource frames fossil fuel divestment and sustainable investment as an
important piece of comprehensive strategies to tackle the global climate crisis
while also demonstrating the financial benefits with case studies from Berlin,
London, Oslo, and Stockholm.
"There
is ample evidence that Divest/Invest action on a portfolio level has no
negative financial implications—indeed it may even have a positive impact—and
can be fully aligned with pension fund trustees' fiduciary duties," the
executive summary explains.
· 18h
The
#DivestInvest
movement highlights cities’ support for a new economy run on renewable energy,
not fossil fuels.
Delivering
a #DivestInvest
commitment does not have to be daunting. Our new toolkit sets out the key steps
cities can take to divest from fossil fuels with leading examples from @MayorofLondon and @NYCMayor. Read it here: https://bit.ly/2MqVTwb
The
toolkit details six key steps that city officials should take to join the
global movement: Commit to Divest/Invest; engage the city pension funds;
develop and implement policy; monitor progress; communicate progress and engage
with external stakeholders; and promote Divest/Invest.
"These
are not easy steps, but they are absolutely necessary," de Blasio said in
a statement.
In a
foreword for the toolkit, de Blasio wrote of his city's fight for a cleaner
future. "I am proud that New York City is the first city in the nation to
set in motion a comprehensive divestment and investment strategy as part of our
New York City Green New Deal," he wrote, "a massive effort to achieve
carbon neutrality by 2050, which also includes mandating changes to buildings
and powering city government with renewables."
Khan,
who penned the toolkit's second foreword, shared some of his personal experiences
with the Divest/Invest movement in the statement Tuesday.
"Over
the last three years, London has led from the front on divesting from fossil
fuels and addressing the climate emergency," Khan said. "At City
Hall, I am working with the London Pensions Fund Authority to take all possible
steps to divest its remaining investments in fossil fuel industries. I have
also encouraged local authorities and organizations in London to do the
same."
"However,
we need all cities to act now to help protect our planet for future
generations," he added. "So, together with New York and C40, I'm
calling on every major city in the world to follow suit. This toolkit will
demonstrate to other cities that taking action on divestment is not only
achievable but also essential to investing in our future."
The
toolkit for cities was released ahead of the C40 Divest/Invest Forum set to be
held in NYC March 16–18. The forum will feature a public event, speeches from
investment and city leaders, and a closed-door workshop where representatives
from cities and their pension funds can discuss divestment strategies and
progress.
Along
with London and New York City, several cities from across the globe are
involved with the forum: Auckland, Boston, Cape Town, Copenhagen, Durban, Los
Angeles, Melbourne, Oslo, Paris, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and Stockholm.
Bill
McKibben, co-founder of the global environmental advocacy group 350.org,
welcomed the new toolkit and cities' ongoing efforts in a statement Tuesday.
"Thanks
to C40 and leading city mayors like Sadiq Khan and Bill de Blasio, divestment
has become a standard—and crucial—part of the toolkit for taking on the climate
crisis," McKibben said. "It makes no sense—morally, practically, or financially—to
invest in the industries endangering our cities. And on the list of actions
humans will have to take to deal with the planet's heating, it combines
relatively low cost and effort with remarkably high leverage."
Referencing
the frightening
conditions that some major coastal cities now face as human
activities continue to fuel the global climate emergency, he added:
"Instead of having to move cities, let's move money!"
Cities
are just part of the global movement to divest from the coal, gas, and oil
industries. According to Fossil Free, a project of
350.org, Divest/Invest campaigners have secured commitments
from over 1,150 organizations—including faith-based groups, philanthropic
foundations, educational institutions, governments, pension funds,
corporations, nonprofits, and healthcare entities—with more than $12 trillion
in total assets.
Our work is licensed
under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Feel free to
republish and share widely.
Donations can be sent
to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD
21218. Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski2001 [at] comcast.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their
lives." Eugene Victor Debs
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