{"id":2358,"date":"2013-06-11T15:49:26","date_gmt":"2013-06-11T15:49:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/?p=2358"},"modified":"2013-06-11T15:49:26","modified_gmt":"2013-06-11T15:49:26","slug":"how-do-i-participate-in-fossil-fuel-divestment-when-investments-are-in-my-company-retirement-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/how-do-i-participate-in-fossil-fuel-divestment-when-investments-are-in-my-company-retirement-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"How do I participate in fossil fuel divestment when investments are in my company retirement plan?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\"><em>This is a guest post from Rob Thomas of <a href=\"http:\/\/socialk.com\">Social(k)<\/a>:<\/em><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Many of us are concerned about Climate Change. \u00a0We replace\u00a0incandescent light bulbs, drive less, buy carbon offsets when traveling and above all else we DO NOT BUY BOTTLED WATER. \u00a0However since most of us are not institutional investors, pension managers or Richie Rich types with huge stock portfolios, we feel a little left out when it comes to Fossil Fuel Divestment.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">An\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.firstaffirmative.com\/resources-news\/news\/sri-professionals-survey-majority-of-retail,-institutional-investors-interested-in-fossil-fuel-free-portfolios\/\" target=\"_blank\">online survey by First Affirmative Financial Network<\/a>\u00a0found the following:<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Over half of sustainable, responsible, impact (SRI) investment industry professionals say that retail investors (65 percent) and institutional investors (53 percent) are currently expressing interest in fossil fuel-free portfolios in the face of growing signs of climate change, according to First Affirmative Financial Network\u2019s Fossil Fuels Divestment Survey.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Released in anticipation of the 24th annual SRI Conference (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sriconference.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.SRIconference.com<\/a>)\u00a0October 28-30, 2013\u00a0at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the online survey was conducted by First Affirmative Financial Network between April 22 and May 8, 2013.\u00a0 More than 2,000 SRI industry professionals were asked to weigh-in on 12 questions regarding fossil fuel-free portfolios and related investor concerns.\u00a0 The survey was completed by 466 licensed investment professionals, asset managers, investors, and representatives of SRI investment companies, community development financial institutions, and social research\/proxy voting organizations.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Other key survey findings include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">77 percent see growing risks for investors associated with fossil fuel company holdings in their investment portfolios.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">30 percent of those surveyed either already do \u2013 or are getting ready to \u2013 offer fossil-fuel free portfolios to investors.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">63 percent believe that investors will in the next 10 years start divesting in meaningful numbers from fossil-fuel companies due to climate change implications of such energy sources.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">As Steve highlighted, it\u2019s fossil fuels that are the number one producer of carbon in the atmosphere, which is in turn the top human cause of global warming. Fossil fuel divestment is thus the prime issue facing investors concerned about the environment.\u00a0So you ask, \u201cHow can I participate in divesting of fossil fuel companies?\u201d My answer: Talk to your employer about the company retirement plan.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Many mutual funds own companies active in extraction, production, transportation and use of fossil fuel. \u00a0These companies have business models that rely on extracting all the fossil fuel they can, by any means necessary, and burning it. If they do what is right for the world and slow\u2014and eventually stop\u2014the burning of their reserves, the way things are now means they will suffer huge balance sheet losses. Two factors are going to push them toward burning less fossil fuel, and therefore losing value to shareholders: First, governments will place more and more regulations on them and second, investors and consumers will steer away from fossil fuels because of increasing awareness, and the profits that can be made will decrease.<\/p>\n<p>At the end of the day, I don\u2019t need to make anything more than a financial argument here. Awareness of global warming is not going away, and alternatives to fossil fuels are only becoming more developed and prominent. These companies\u2019 oil and coal holdings are no longer the safe long term investments they were in the 20th century.\u00a0If just 10% of your retirement plan money is investing in these companies you could be in for more than bad weather. When you look for 6% annual returns and see a drop in value from 10% of a portfolio\u2019s holdings, you\u2019ll find yourself setback. To avoid this, speak to your employer or retirement plan provider about divestment from fossil fuels.<\/p>\n<p>Your employer may or may not consider fossil fuel stocks as\u00a0volatile\u00a0as you do. They might even completely disagree with the science of climate change. \u00a0Either way, if they are not be willing to move the company plan from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/blog.socialk.com\/video\/\" target=\"_blank\">Fidelity<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0<a title=\"Social(k)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.expertplan.com\/socialk.jsp\" target=\"_blank\">Social(k)<\/a>. Instead ask your employer to consider adding one or two of the funds available today that are fossil fuel free, such as\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/portfolio21.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Portfolio 21<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.greencentury.com\/funds\/Green-Century-Balanced-Fund\" target=\"_blank\">Green Century Balanced<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/sheltoncap.com\/mutual-funds\/domestic-equity\/shelton-green-alpha-fund\/\" target=\"_blank\">Shelton Green Alpha<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.paxworld.com\/system\/storage\/8\/75\/8\/2466\/sa-compelling-investment.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Pax World Global Enviromental Market<\/a>s, and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.crafund.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">CRA Qualified Investment Fund.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>These funds are leading the way with fossil fuel free portfolios. \u00a0Nervous your portfolio will under-perform by not owning energy producers? \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/blog.socialk.com\/how-to-optimize-esg-factors-in-portfilio-construction\/\" target=\"_blank\">This webinar slide-deck<\/a>\u00a0walks through how portfolios can avoid Carbon Risk and not sacrifice returns.\u00a0Empower yourself and become active in divesting of fossil fuel stocks in your company 401(k), 403(b) or 457 plan. It\u2019s no longer only the big guns who can voting with their dollars.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/blog.socialk.com\/how-to-get-your-employer-to-offer-sri-options-svn-imapct-blog\/\" target=\"_blank\">Here is a guide<\/a>\u00a0to bringing fossil free portfolios to your employer\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>About Rob Thomas: Rob saw a need for more than one or two Environmental, Social or Governance, ESG, screened funds in an organization&#8217;s retirement plan. In 2000 there were no viable options for smaller organizations to add a respectable set of screened funds to a plan. Rob created Social(k) as an option for responsible and sustainable organizations looking for a retirement plan that matched the organizations DNA. \u00a0To date almost 300 companies have agreed with Rob and offer Social(k) at their place of work. \u00a0Join MoveOn.org, Democracy Now, Honest Tea,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/350.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">350.org<\/a>, Social Venture Network, B lab, RSF Social Finance, Green America, Social Investment Forum and a few hundred others as Social(k) supporters.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is a guest post from Rob Thomas of Social(k): Many of us are concerned about Climate Change. \u00a0We replace\u00a0incandescent<span class=\"text-cutoff\">&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2358\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}