Dear Friend,

To help you use your money to reflect your values, Green America shares this opportunity from Amalgamated Bank, a certified Green Business Network member.

We Must Fight Back Against the Fossil Fuel Industrial Complex and its Enablers 

This summer, heat waves have been more frequent, intense, and longer than ever before. While triple-digit temperatures break records, each passing minute moves us closer to permanently accepting the reality that climate change is closer to becoming irreversible while making the world sicker, hungrier, poorer, gloomier and more dangerous than ever before.  

We are already experiencing extreme weather events, leading to failures in infrastructure, industry, and the food supply. Dry conditions helped spark the deadly wildfires on Maui, causing 115 deaths and over $4 billion in damages.i . In July, 2 months’ worth of rain fell on Vermont in 2 days turning streets into raging torrents, and washing away roads.ii In 2021, heat-related deaths in the US increased to 1,600, a 59% uptick from only four years earlier, and a 439% increase from 2004. With this summer being the hottest on record, this disastrous trend is likely to continue.iii 

Big oil’s response to this crisis? Profiteering and capitalizing whenever they can. Major oil companies recently rejected climate change proposals at their annual meetings. These proposals called for setting emissions reduction targets that would be consistent with the goals of the 2015 Paris climate agreement. Solely driven by profit, they charge ahead with their destructive behavior. At least two major oil companies plan to increase output for the foreseeable future, and recently Chevron spent $6.3 billion to acquire US shale producer PDC Energy, adding new oil and gas reserves.iv 

What can I do? 

We believe in the power of investors to motivate corporate action. The time has come to divest from the bad actors who are seeking to destroy our planet. We also believe that almost all corporations can be pushed further to improve their environmental, social, and labor practices. We are here to help you align your investments with your values today – and it doesn’t mean you need to suffer by making less money.v  

Contact us for a free  “Values Alignment Check” to ensure the investments you make truly reflect your intentions. 

When you purchase stock in a company you get the right to vote at annual shareholder meetings. When you invest in an ESG fund with a firm such as Blackrock or Vanguard, this voting power is often squandered by a fund manager who cares about profits above all else and votes to perpetuate the status quo. We thoroughly vet our managers to ensure they vote in a way that is reflective of our clients’ values. As an example, managers we work with recently announced the following shareholder actions: 

Green Century and Amalgamated Bank put forth a recent shareholder proposal against Amazon requesting they measure and disclose all scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions, including emissions related to its physical stores and e-commerce operations.  

A little more than a year after Green Century co-filed a resolution with As You Sow asking Amazon to address its plastics use, the company announced it has reduced its single-use plastic in its global operations by 11.6% – or nearly 86,000 metric tons between 2021 and 2022.  

As a result of another Green Century proposal, Morgan Stanley agreed to enhance its existing written standards for palm oil and forestry clients to reflect best practices, as well as create new written policy standards for soy and beef clients operating in regions with high deforestation risk.vi 

Click here to learn how to align your investments with your values  

We need to hold the institutions and the investment managers that we entrust with our money to a higher standard. Each and every one of us who divests from fossil fuels is making a firm statement of intent and helping lead the charge for progress on social and environmental justice.  

If you, or someone you know, would like to join our movement of creating a more sustainable and equitable world, please do not hesitate to visit us and learn more about our Fossil Fuel Free Portfolios. As a leader and innovator in the sustainable finance sector, we are uniquely equipped to assist you in achieving deep alignment between your values and your investment portfolio.   

Sincerely,  

The Amalgamated Investment Services Team