In early June twenty two people enjoyed soup and nibbles and viewed Do the Math in the Stirling Library. This inspiring movie, featuring Bill McKibben from 350.org, touches on social movements, environmental, economic and social change and has a strong focus on building a community movement for divestment from fossil fuels.

In the energised discussion following the movie many people requested a copy to show others and the link to the Go Fossil Free campaign in Australia.

The Do the Math trailer gives a quick impression of the issues involved.

This site for the Go Fossil Free campaign in Australia has tools and resources, including some rather nice templates for letters to your super fund, and more resources will be added in coming months. To give an idea of the significance of fossil industry investment from super funds here is a quote from the site:-

"Over 55% of the world’s superannuation is invested in coal, oil, gas and other high-carbon assets whilst less than 2% is invested in climate solutions like renewable energy. If super funds switched even a fraction of their investments to renewables, it would completely transform the energy industry. We have the opportunity to radically transform superannuation from the world’s biggest fossil fuel investor to a climate change champion.

Globally, over $30 trillion is invested in superannuation, making it the largest single source of wealth on the planet. At $1.3 trillion, Australia’s super pool accounts for a large portion of the pie.

Australian super funds are currently investing billions in an unsustainable future on our behalf. Chances are that when your employer puts money into your super account, a significant percentage of it is invested in coal, gas and other fossil fuel projects. In fact, a recent analysis calculated that if the proportion of super invested in climate solutions was increased from 2% to 5%, nearly $3 trillion would be leveraged for clean assets globally – that’s a third of the total cost to fix climate change (according to the International Energy Agency)!

Your super fund has a legal obligation (“fiduciary duty”) to respond to your concerns if you’re unhappy with the way they’re investing your money. So, if each of us acts together, we could shift billions of dollars out of carbon-intensive investments and into climate solutions like renewable energy."