Divestment

Fossil fuel divestment involves shifting investments away from polluting coal, oil, and gas and instead investing in just and sustainable forms of renewable power. The science is clear: to stabilize the climate and prevent runaway climate change, we must phase out fossil fuels. As United Methodists and as followers of Jesus, we are challenged to respond faithfully to today’s threats to God’s creation with resilience and hope.

“Investing in new fossil fuel infrastructure is moral and economic madness. Such investments will soon be stranded assets — a blot on the landscape and a blight on investment portfolios.” UN Secretary-General, António Guterres.

UM Creation Justice Ministries February Movement Café focused on fossil fuel divestment, with a conversation to help connect the dots as to why divestment is an important tool to fight climate change.

The California-Nevada Conference Council on Finance and Administration organized a Summit on Fossil Fuel Divestment that was held at the Conference Center in March 2025. It was geared specifically toward representatives from Conference financial agencies, but the presentations were livestreamed for anyone who wants to know more about how our Conference is approaching fossil fuel divestment as a response to climate change. This Summit is the outcome of a Recommendation on fossil fuel divestment that was passed in June 2024 at the California-Nevada Annual Conference Session. The purpose of the Summit was to “uphold best practices for investment management and to “identify sound financial strategies to screen out fossil fuels from our conference investment portfolios.”

Topics covered included climate change as a spiritual challenge for people of faith, the call to climate justice, the moral rationale for fossil fuel divestment, financial aspects of divesting from fossil fuels, the risks and returns of investing in and divesting from fossil fuels, and how to divest from fossil fuels and reinvest in a fiscally and socially responsible way. Following an initial address by Bishop Sandra Olewine on Tuesday evening, speakers included:

William Morris, from the California-Pacific Annual Conference, is an organizer with GreenFaith and chairs Young Evangelicals for Climate Action (YECA). He shared his knowledge and experience working with GreenFaith on their People vs. Fossil Fuels campaign, and his first-hand experience of the impacts and responses to the LA fires.
The Rev. Jim Antal, author of Climate Church, Climate World, talked about why and how the United Church of Christ divested from fossil fuels and their process for doing so.
Jake Barnet from Wespath talked about Wespath’s investment management practices and changes they have recently made to make it easier for pastors to transfer their pensions, and for Annual Conferences and other UM institutions to transfer their holdings, into Wespath’s low-carbon funds.
Julia Frisbie, Executive Director of the Faith Foundation Northwest, spoke about how agencies can divest from fossil fuels to Wespath’s low-carbon Social Values Choice Funds and how the Faith Foundation Northwest and PNW Annual Conference did so.
Daniel Cohn, analyst for Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), offered financial reasons for divesting from fossil fuels, discuss risks and returns, and will talk about how to move to fossil free funds beyond Wespath’s options.

Watch the recording of the Fossil Divestment Summit:

The February issue of the UM Creation Justice Newsletter contains lots of important news about divestment including these articles:

A Theological Reflection on Divestment From Fossil Fuels by Pat Watkins
Next Step for UMC Net Zero Agencies: Divest from Fossil Fuels by Sharon Delgado
Net Zero Needs Fossil Fuel Divestment by Jaydee Hanson
Progress Report on The United Methodist Church’s Goal of Net Zero by Bob Downs
What If We Get It Right? A Book Review by Richenda Fairhurst
Climate Finance and COP29 by Becca Edwards
Intergenerational Cooperation in Climate Change by William “Bill” Myers

Fossil Free UMC, convened by our task force member Rev. Sharon Delgado, has lots of resources on divestment. Their mission is: To build on the stated commitments of The United Methodist Church to faithfully address climate change. To act by screening out fossil fuels from our investments at all levels of the church. And to invest in goods and services that support an immediate and just transition to a clean energy future.