By: Lorenza Zebell
Sustain Dane is a resource for your sustainability-related questions. Businesses and individuals often email our team. This year we are adding a new article section where we will share questions that have come from the Sustain Dane community (and the answers we provide) in our newsletter. Feel free to send in your question to hello@sustaindane.org
Q: How can I know that my investments aren’t supporting climate change?
A: This is a very important question to ask – many people don’t know that 401(k)s and similar retirement plans are still mostly invested in funds that support fossil fuel companies.
A great place to start aligning your investments with your values is researching what industries your 401(k) and personal investments are supporting. You may be interested in the nonprofit organization As You Sow, the nation’s leading practitioner of shareholder advocacy and engagement. Since 1992, they have used shareholder power to align investments with values and compel companies to reduce material risk on issues including climate change; toxins in the food system; ocean plastics; diversity, equity, and inclusion; racial justice; and wage equity. Check out their tool Invest Your Values to discover the climate and social impact of thousands of U.S. mutual funds, ETFs, and 401k plans – including what your investments are supporting.
Their tool can help you find funds that are fossil free, deforestation free, gun free, prison free, weapons free, tobacco free, and funds that prioritize gender equality. They have rated over 50 employer-offered retirement plans for investments in these areas and you can see the funds social and environmental scorecard.
We hosted their CEO Andrew Behar at a Sustainable Breakfast Series in 2022, which you can watch here.
Aside from divesting from fossil fuels in your retirement accounts and other investments, here are some other tips to make your investments more sustainable:
- Invest in more sustainable products like ESG funds.
- Research your credit cards and bank accounts to choose companies that invest responsibly.
- Purchase goods and services from local businesses that represent the diversity in our community.
- “Donate to nonprofits and charities with a focus on climate stabilization, empowering women and girls, fighting poverty, and protecting nature in ways that also protect the livelihoods of local people” (pg. 208 of Under the Sky We Make: How to Be Human in a Warming World by Kimberly A. Nicholas).