There are a plethora of investment guides that help individuals and institutions to divest from fossil fuels.
One of the newest divestment/reinvestment resources is known as FossilFreeFunds.org. This web platform makes it easier for investors to assess the holdings in their portfolios. The project is the brain child of Andrew Behar, who is chief executive of, As You Sow, a 23-year-old nonprofit in Oakland, Calif., which promotes shareholder activism and dialogue with corporations. To create the divestment/reinvestment resource, Behar sifting through federal securities databases to identify all known fossil companies.
Using the tool is easy, simply enter the name or the ticker code of the fund and the tool will pull up a list of the fossil fuel stocks it contains. Investors can also search for companies peripherally related to fossil fuels to the Carbon Underground 200, a list of coal oil and gas companies. Or users can search for the so-called Filthy 15, the largest and dirtiest coal companies in the US.
As You Sow is also planning to provide carbon footprint data for the mutual funds. The information will be displayed on a kilogram of carbon per dollar
basis, allowing users to compare the different mutual funds. (Kilogram
of carbon per dollar is a measure of a fossil fuel company’s carbon
emissions for every dollar invested.). The organization is also planning to expand the tool to include retirement plans in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong.
There are also other fossil-free investor resources, including one by Green America, which partners with 350.org, but they require investors to research their retirement plans and assessing whether it includes fossil fuel company stocks.
Guardian: A Beginners Guide to Fossil Fuel Divestment
Fossil Free: A Divestment Guide for Individuals
Aperio Group: Do the Investment Math: Building a Fossil Free Portfolio
Advisor Partners: Fossil Fuel Divestment: Perspectives After the Oil Bust
MSCI: Responding to the Call for Fossil Free Portfolios’
Trillilum Asset Management & 350.org: Extracting Fossil Fuels from Your Portfolio
Green Century: A Green(er) Portfolio: Carbon Footprint Report
The Green Market Oracle: Eleven Resources for Responsible Investing Including Divestment
Joshua Humphreys: Institutional Pathways to Fossil Fuel Divesting
