Edmund Rice Justice Bulletin

Despite the ever mounting evidence of the need for decisive and urgent action to address climate change, governments continue to be slow to take action to confront the looming crisis. In significant measure this is due to the financial might of the fossil fuel industry.

To counter this, a global day of divestment action will take place on the 13th and 14th February in five continents with a range of activities to build the momentum of the divestment movement ahead of the UN Climate Talks in Paris 2015.

Divestment means getting rid of stocks, bonds or investment funds that are unethical or morally ambiguous. Since 2012, 181 institutions and local governments and 656 individuals representing over $50 billion in assets have pledged to divest from fossil fuels. The campaign is sparking international action in financial centres, parliaments, churches, universities, municipalities and investment banks around the world.

A total of 200 publicly-traded companies that hold the vast majority of listed coal, oil and gas reserves are being targeted and are being asked to:
- immediately to stop exploring for new hydrocarbons.
- cease lobbying in world capitals to preserve their special breaks.
- pledge to keep 80% of their current reserves underground forever.

The scope and urgency of the problem facing our planet was reinforced recently with the release of the most comprehensive report yet on observed and projected climate change in Australia.

The report was funded jointly by the Australian Government’s department of the Environment, the Bureau of meteorology and the Commonwealth Scientific and research organisation (CSIRO)