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Directory of Better Banking Alternatives

Americans are understandably angry at the largest financial institutions in the nation. Several of our mega-banks are engaged in predatory lending practices that nearly took down the entire financial system. Wall Street firms profited from selling “triple-A rated investments” they knew were junk. This outrage has most recently manifested itself in the Occupy Wall Street Movement, which has called for a Bank Transfer Day, on November 5, calling on customers to leave mega-banks with abusive practices and switch to smaller banks or credit unions.

Green America encourages Americans to move to a green economy that supports people and the planet.

The good news is that any day can be Bank Transfer Day! Any day is a good day to Break Up With Your Mega-Bank and switch to a community development bank or credit union.

Signs of Progress

Financial Products & Services

Over time, more and more people have come to understand how our economic decisions and actions have ripple effects throughout society and around the world. How we make profit is as important as how we use profit. Both individuals and institutions need to apply their values to decisions about their investments'including bank accounts, mutual funds, and stocks and bonds. Simply put, our concern about climate change needs to be reflected in our financial decisions; our portfolios, no matter what size, should point toward a clean energy future. This is necessary for both the planet and for our long-term economic well-being.

Divestment is growing rapidly. What started as a movement on college campuses has begun to enter the financial mainstream. The value of investment funds divesting from fossil fuels has more than doubled in the past year, with more than 80% of new funds being managed by a commercial interest. A few recent high-profile examples of climate-related divestment include:

  • In December 2016, the London Borough of Southwark Pension Fund, worth $1.5 billion committed to divest its pension fund from fossil fuel companies and reallocate a portion to investment in clean energy infrastructure in London.

  • In 2016, the World Medical Association released a report urging medical and health organizations all over the world to divest from fossil fuels and to transfer their investments to renewable energy sources. It also called on 112 national medical association members to educate people and leaders on the dangers of climate change and the health benefits of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

  • Since 2015, many of the largest US banks, including Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley, have released new policies committing to reduce lending to coal-mining companies and increase scrutiny of financing to coal-fired power plants.

  • In August 2015, the largest coal port in the world, located in Australia, voted to divest its $270 million portfolio of fossil fuels - including coal. While the port depends on coal at present, there is growing recognition that a new direction is needed.

  • In September 2015, the University of California system divested its endowment and pension fund of direct company stock in coal and oil sands in order to address concerns about climate change and the financial risk inherent in those fossil fuel investments.

  • In July of 2017, Cape Town, South Africa mayor Patricia De Lille announced that the city would follow the likes of Copenhagen, Oslo, San Francisco, and others and divest its fossil fuel assets and reinvest in more sustainable assets.

The fact that fossil fuels are deeply embedded in the economy cannot be an excuse for inaction, and the recent success of the divestment movement is a signal that we need to continue pushing harder. Ever more individual and institutional investors are taking leadership and divesting their portfolios of fossil fuels.

 

Let your voice be heard.

Take the pledge.

Find Fossil-Free Financial Products & Services

Looking for a financial advisor? We’ve got options 

  • The Asset Management Firms linked below can help higher-net-worth individuals and institutions such as a house of worship, university, or pension plan shift their assets. 

Linked below you can also find recommendations for fossil-free mutual funds and ETFs.  

Back to the Action Center

Steps to Divest & Reinvest: From Fossil Fuels to Clean Energy

 

Green Century

 

Back to Divest & Reinvest

Find Fossil-Free Financial Products & Services

Divest from Fossil Fuels

If you directly own stocks in specific companies, you can divest yourself of your fossil fuel holdings just like a municipality or retirement fund would. Simply identify the problematic stocks you no longer wish to own, and sell them. Find the ten largest fossil-fuel companies or find the list of the largest 200 at 350.org’s go fossil free.

Another option is to donate your stock to a nonprofit organization and use your donation as a tax write-off.

Most people don't do their own direct investing. If you invest in mutual funds, or a retirement account, you can call your accounts and ask for your money to be directed into fossil—fuel—free investments. If your current investment companies don't offer fossil—free options (and most don't!) tell them that you are considering divestment, and will move to other investment products that better match your values.

Use the Fossil Free Funds online tool produced by As You Sow and Morningstar to find out the fossil fuel exposure of your mutual funds.

Divestment can make good financial sense for your portfolio. Over the long term, as the effects of climate change become more apparent, and as more and more governments adopt policies to limit carbon pollution, the carbon resources that fossil fuel companies currently count as assets will shift to liabilities. Studies by numerous analysts, including the London School of Economics, the Aperio Group, HSBC, and Impact Asset Management, demonstrate that fossil fuel companies may be overvalued by as much as 40 to 60 percent. Financial analysts call this overvaluation the "carbon bubble" and explain that it could cause similar financial turmoil to previous overvaluations (like the 2007 "housing bubble") when it bursts. Divestment now could protect your assets in the future. But what to do with the money you divest from the fossil fuel companies? Answer: Reinvest in the clean energy future.

Reinvest in Clean Energy & Fossil Fuel-Free Products

"Fossil fuel free investing is smart, possible and needed." says Leslie Samuelrich, president of the investment advisory firm Green Century Capital Management "We must and can move away from fossil fuels into renewable energy. The quality of the lives of our children and grandchildren depends on it"

A handful of companies like Green Century specifically offer broad-based mutual funds that exclude dirty energy companies by policy. You can also find exchange traded funds that focus on clean energy, mutual funds that are less broad based and focus on clean energy, and community development mutual funds that exclude fossil fuels due to their mission to invest in smaller, local sustainable businesses. These investments tend to require minimum investments of around $1,000 to $2,500.

Invest in Clean Energy for Your Home & Community

For many people, their most valuable investment is their home. If you don’t find yourself in a position to invest $50,000 via a financial advisor, you may be able to invest in clean energy for your home, raising the value of your property.

Researchers from the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory released a study in 2014 that analyzed 22,000 sales of homes across eight states between 1999 and 2013. They found that the property value of homes with solar photovoltaic (PV) systems increased by an average of $15,000. Homes with larger PV systems saw an even greater increase in property values. Over half a million homes in the U.S. have PV systems installed, and prospective homebuyers are seeing the value in solar energy.

Many states offer tax incentives for improving your property with clean energy. Check DSIRE, the Database for State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency for incentives in your state.

And finally, even if you don't own a home, or can't go solar at home yet, in many areas of the country you can invest in collective purchasing of community based solar projects. Those with very little up-front capital can often buy into solar collectives for the price of a single panel (around $500), and then begin to recoup their money as credits on their utility bill.

At the higher end of the investment continuum, a participant in collective purchasing who buys enough panels to cover a home's full energy needs benefits from the collective structure (optimal siting of panels, collective maintenance, etc.) and spends less money than on a complete individual at-home system. This type of investment allows you to break even more quickly too - in around 10 to 13 years instead 20 to 30 years on many home-based systems.

Shift Your Bank Accounts & Credit Cards

Even if none of the above divestment and reinvestment strategies apply to your current financial situation, you can still take part in the divestment movement.

If you have a bank account, you are an investor; the money sitting in your checking accounts, savings accounts, or certificates of deposit (CDs) all serve to advance the interests of your bank, which may not align with your own.

For example, JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America are ranked as the top-four worst banks in the world for the climate, due to their financing of fossil fuels, according to the 2021 report Banking on Climate Chaos. The report ranks banks globally based on coal mining and power, oil, natural gas export, and human rights related to fossil fuels.

Some of these banks are taking baby steps in the right direction. In 2015, Bank of America announced it would divest from coal projects, and Wells Fargo, J.P. Morgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley are all moving away from coal, citing climate change risks. Despite these steps in the right direction, if you bank with a corporate mega-bank, you're investing in fossil fuels. While activist pressure has ended megabank investment in mountaintop removal coal mining, these companies are still heavily invested in fossil fuels in general. By contrast, credit unions and community development banks, with their mission to lift up communities and invest in small, local businesses, can offer you access to checking and savings accounts (and other banking and investing products) that aren't tainted by investment in fossil fuels.

Find better banks at Green America’s greenamerica.org/getabetterbank

Find credit cards from community development banks at takechargeofyourcard.org.

Support Institutional Divestment Movements

"The fossil fuel divestment movement is the apartheid of this generation," says Michael Kramer of Natural Investment. "Climate change impacts the entire planet and is a direct threat to our survival ...The more people who clamor for divestment, the more likely that elected officials will listen."

Individual divestment is an important first step. And when we work together to convince more and larger institutions join the divestment movement, it will be even harder for fossil fuel companies to ignore their stigmatization as an industry fueling the destruction of the planet.

Let your voice be heard.

Take the pledge.