Our team is about to hit Rocking the Daisies, and this is what we’ll be asking festival-goers to do for the divestment cause – here we list five quick ways you can take action right now to push South Africa towards a more safe and prosperous future and away from the deadly fossil fuels – coal, oil and gas – that threaten our climate, our health and our savings.
HOW MANY ACTIONS CAN YOU TICK OFF?
Five quick and easy divestment actions (1–2 minutes)
Please work your way through this list of fast, easy actions.
ACTION: SIGN PETITION: Sign our “We Are Ready to Divest!’ petition: For a safer climate and secure future, tell the biggest SA investment managers – Allan Gray, Coronation, Investec, Old Mutual, Stanlib and the Government Employees Pension Fund – to offer funds divested from coal, gas and oil.
On this page, we list a host of ways you can take action now online to push South Africa towards a more safe and prosperous future and away from the deadly fossil fuels – coal, oil and gas – that threaten our climate, our health and our savings.
HOW MANY ACTIONS CAN YOU TICK OFF?
1. Quick and easy actions (1–2 minutes)
Please work your way through this list of fast, easy actions.
ACTION: SIGN PETITION: Sign our “We Are Ready to Divest!’ petition: For a safer climate and secure future, tell the biggest SA investment managers – Allan Gray, Coronation, Investec, Old Mutual, Stanlib and the Government Employees Pension Fund – to offer funds divested from coal, gas and oil.
These actions involve sending messages to SA’s biggest financial services providers via social media or email. The suggested texts are offered as a guide, so do personalise. Be polite but insistent! And please – LET US KNOW how they respond.
I’m interested in investing with Allan Gray, but would first like to know:
what Allan Gray has done to assess the full external health, human rights and environmental costs of investments in Sasol and other fossil fuel companies,
how you would assess the threat posed by carbon (stranded assets) and climate risk to MY portfolio,
how you are aligning your investment strategies with the need to limit global warming to 1.5°C, and
when you plan to give the option of investing in a fossil-free or ethical fund?
what Allan Gray has done to assess the full external health, human rights and environmental costs of investments in Sasol and other fossil fuel companies,
how you would assess the threat posed by carbon (stranded assets) and climate risk to MY portfolio,
how you are aligning your investment strategies with the need to limit global warming to 1.5°C, and
when you plan to give us the option of investing in a fossil-free or ethical fund?
Also contact your financial adviser and ask the same questions.
Target the Big Five – CORONATION FUND MANAGERS
If you’re not a Coronation client, you could nonetheless Coronation at clientservice@coronation.co.za and say something like this:
I’m not a Coronation client, but might want to invest with you, and first want to know:
what Coronation has done to assess the full external health, human rights and environmental costs of investments in Sasol and other fossil fuel companies,
how you would assess the threat posed by carbon (stranded assets) and climate risk to MY portfolio,
how you are aligning your investment strategies with the need to limit global warming to 1.5°C, and
whether you plan to give us the option of investing in a fossil-free or ethical fund?
what Coronation has done to assess the full external health, human rights and environmental costs of investments in Sasol and other fossil fuel companies,
how you assess the threat posed by carbon (stranded assets) and climate risk to MY portfolio,
how you are aligning your investment strategies with the need to limit global warming to 1.5°C, and
when you plan to give us the option of investing in a fossil-free or ethical fund?
Also contact your financial adviser and ask the same questions.
If you’re an Investec client, contact them, and say:
I’m an Investec client, and I want to know:
what Investec have done to assess the full external health, human rights and environmental costs of investments in Sasol and other fossil fuel companies,
how you assess the threat posed by carbon (stranded assets) and climate risk to MY portfolio,
how you are aligning your investment strategies with the need to limit global warming to 1.5°C, and
when you plan to give us the option of investing in a fossil-free fund?
Also contact your financial adviser and ask the same questions.
WATCH:: Do the Math is a four-year-old documentary about the fossil fuel divestment movement. Still highly relevant and inspiring – watching this doccie inspired the creation of Fossil Free SA.
MORE INFO: Our partners, the Centre for Environmental Rights, have a another great mailing list to sign up to for news on the struggle against the fossil fuel industry.
4. Long-term actions
Feeling unsatisfied? Want to really get your teeth into divestment activism? Here are some ideas that will help our movement grow even deeper roots. And remember – please give us feedback on the responses you get from asset managers and financial service providers.
Personal divestment action
Read this account of how one Fossil Free SA supporter, Kevin Coldrey, approached his own personal divestment. How could you apply his experience to your own finances? (Note: FFSA acknowledges that divestment at a personal level in South Africa remains very difficult – hence our big petition!)
Challenge your financial service provider
Template letter 1: If you’re a member of staff or faculty at UCT with pension benefits.
Template letter 3: Letter to financial advisor/investment house/bank.
Host a divestment dinner
Hold a potluck dinner party, invite friends around, and discuss divestment-reinvestment. Use this Divest-Fest document and this guide as idea starters. Let us know about your dinner, and we can probably attend or support.
Invite a divestment speaker to an event
We’re working hard to spread the divestment message. If you’re hosting an event or conference, and you think your audience would be interested in divestment, invite us to speak.
Deeper divestment leadership
Consider these examples of the kinds of organisations that have divested: universities, cities, charities, churches, unions, NGOs.
Now, take a moment to think about your own finances and connections with the financial services industry. Do you have savings and investments? With what institutions? Are you a student or scholar at a school that has endowed funds (in other words, gets some of its income from investments)? Do you work for a company that has its own pension fund? Are you part of a church or faith group or union or foundation/NGOs that gets income from investments? Are you in a position to speak to, or write to, the people managing these investments to make the argument for fossil fuel divestment? We have template letters on our website that you can adapt and use. And we’re keen to help out, just get in touch.
THANKS SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR EFFORTS! We’re doing this work to secure a world with a stable climate, fewer wars, healthy children, clear air and clean water, a switch to wind and solar energy, green jobs, stable energy costs and energy independence, cleaner governance, more land for food and forests, sound investments and quieter cities.
