
Bill McKibbon (centre) founder of 350.org, on his recent tour in Australia. 350.org is an international campaign encouraging divestment in the coal industry. Bill congratulated the NSW/ACT Synod on their recent decision. Bill is shown here with Dr Miriam Pepper, Uniting Earthweb; Rev Dr Brian Brown, Moderator of the Uniting Church in NSW/ACT; Justin Whelan, mission development officer, Paddington Uniting Church and Rev Elenie Poulos, national director of UnitingJustice.
At the last Synod meeting for the Uniting Church in New South Wales (NSW) and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), a bold decision was made to divest in companies involved in the extraction of fossil fuels (coal and coal seam gas) as they seek to invest, instead, in renewable energy. It was a big step for the Synod, and a decision that wasn’t taken lightly.
But what is ethical investing, and why should we be thinking about it?
When money is invested into an account, the financial institution’s role is to make the most out of it they can, by buying and selling shares – this is where ethics comes in. Without doing the research, you could unknowingly be buying shares in companies involved in weapons, gambling or tobacco, just to name a few. Continue Reading