Continued use of fossil fuels endangers the well being of the citizens of Fremont and people around the world. The city of Fremont should immediately freeze any new investments in fossil fuels and divest from direct ownership in any commingled funds that include fossil fuel public equities and corporate bonds within 5 years. Specifically, we are asking the City Council to:
1. Order all asset managers of all city funds to immediately stop any new investment in fossil fuel companies;
2. Ensure that within 5 years none of city's directly held or commingled assets include holdings of either public equities or corporate bonds in fossil fuel companies as determined by the Carbon Tracker list (see below); and
3. Release quarterly updates, available to the public, detailing progress made towards full divestment.
Why is this important?
As a city on the San Francisco Bay, rising sea levels will endanger property, transportation, and community. As a diverse city, our citizens have family and friends around the world, and they will be impacted, too. No one is immune from the impacts of climate change.
It's wrong to wreck the climate. It's wrong to profit from wrecking the climate. Fremont should divest from the number one industry that is wrecking climates world-wide: the fossil fuel industry.
Divestment from fossil fuel companies will:
a) drive public awareness of the incalculable damage being done by the fossil fuel industry as it generates huge immediate profits in exchange for an uninhabitable future;
b) build public recognition of the urgent need to drastically and rapidly reduce humanity’s dependence on fossil fuels;
c) call widespread attention to the consequences of continuing a “business as usual” approach to extracting, marketing and burning fossil fuel;
d) lead to inspiring an urgent, accelerated and popular commitment to leave untapped 80% of the known carbon reserves,while developing renewable energy resources capable of meeting humanity’s needs – thus making it possible that life as we have known it might continue on earth.
You can read the Carbon Tracker list at http://www.carbontracker.org/
How it will be delivered
Signatures will be delivered to City Council members at a City Council meeting. We hope to arrange for press coverage of this.
