Divest Invest Website

DivestInvest for Individuals

Through DivestInvest, each us can do what we can, with what we have, to stop climate change and protect our finances.

You can switch your bank account to a provider which doesn’t invest in fossil fuels. Most countries have institutions that don’t invest in fossil fuels and offer current accounts, savings and loans accounts.
Look out for ‘ethical banks’, ‘building societies’, or ‘credit unions’.

Beddington Zero Energy Development (BedZED) , UK

Decide your criteria for excluding or including companies. The DivestInvest pledge is the top 200 largest oil, gas and coal companies by reserves.
Assess where your investments are currently. There are several tools available to check this such as fossilfreefunds.org.
It’s also a good idea to look at the fund policies to ensure they won’t invest in fossil fuels in the future.
Sell any shares that fail to meet your criteria, and switch to ones that do.

Ask the fund manager to select funds or securities that meet your exclusion and inclusion criteria.
Ask them how they incorporate climate risk into their investment process.
If they are unable or unwilling to respond adequately, consider switching managers.

Children walking to a nearby river to get water in Lao PDR. Image: Asian Development Bank

The structure of retirement savings can vary, so there is no single process to follow.
If you’re employer or private pension provider manages it, work with them to go through the steps for organizations wanting to DivestInvest.
A key step is to ask them to offer a fund which meets your investment criteria.

Photo by NCVO London (CC BY 2.0)