Sustainable investing organizations have collected more than 20,000 signatures on a petition asking employers to provide fossil-fuel-free investing options for retirement plans, the organizations announced Monday.
Three groups organized the petition drive: Divest-Invest; HIP Investor (which stands for “Human Impact + Profit”); and Fossil Free Funds, a project of As You Sow. All three are sustainable investing organizations working to promote fossil-fuel-free investing.
The petition asks employers to provide fossil-fuel-free options for investing in 401(k) retirement plans. “A share of a big oil company with a 20-year plan to drill in the Arctic, or utilities betting on China building a new generation of coal plants are both bad ideas and bad investments,” the organizations said in a statement.
Some funds that promote themselves as sustainable still contain investments in fossil fuels and utilities that are powered by fossil fuels.
“Your 401(k) and pension committees need to know the future risk of staying invested in coal, oil, gas and fossil fuels,” say the petitioners.