Fossil Free California Spotlight: The Impact of Divestment

Fossil Free California marches in favor of divesting CalPERS, California's pension fund.

Imagine if every dollar in your college fund, a teacher’s pension, or city’s budget was silently contributing to wealthy fossil fuel companies, heating up the planet and exacerbating climate change. For millions of individuals in California with public pensions, retirement accounts, or school endowments invested in fossil fuel, this imagination is a reality. Most people don’t realize where their money is going because these investments are buried in large, complicated portfolios managed by financial institutions. For example, CalPERS, the largest public pension fund in the U.S., has around $9.4 billion invested in oil, gas, and coal. Overall, fossil fuels are also often considered safe or profitable, so they stay in those portfolios unless people speak up and demand change. This is what divestment directly tackles.

Divestment is a growing movement actively fighting back against large corporations to advocate for our planet through grassroot movements. Fossil fuel divestment, is the divergence of investment capital from oil, coal, and gas companies. Its impact is profound. As of 2024, over 1600 institutions, which collectively pool $40.76 trillion in assets have committed to divesting from fossil fuels. One organization that emerges as a leader in this area is Fossil Free California.

The organization was founded in 2015 with the intent of pushing the state’s major public pensions to divest from fossil fuels. Fossil Free California targets $650 billion in pension assets, pushing for large scale change and inspiring others to do the same. "Divestment has been a tool that's been used in the past when we want to take away some of the power of a corporation that's doing damage," said one of Fossil Free California’s founding members, Deborah Silvey, during a recent interview. The movement was based on the South African divestment movement that helped end apartheid thirty years earlier, proving divestment could be "an effective method of taking away power from a very powerful entity." 

The impact of this movement is not limited to holding corporations accountable. Divesting away from fossil fuels is also key to providing a sustainable future for all. "Our Earth is at stake," Fossil Free California member and volunteer Diana Curiel said "Our living as human beings and many species living on Earth is at stake. The more fossil fuels impact our environment, the fewer lives we'll be able to continue to live on the planet." According to the UN, fossil fuels are responsible for over 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 90% of all carbon dioxide emissions. Moving money away from fossil fuel corporations is a huge step towards a more sustainable, fossil fuel-free future. 

Nevertheless, despite the growing momentum, the divestment movement still faces challenges, particularly in educating current workers about where their money actually goes. Many teachers and public employees don’t realize they’re paying into fossil fuel investments through their pension contributions. Moreover, it is apparent that the root cause of the issue isn’t a lack of support for divestment, rather miscommunication and the minimal education out there. “A lot of teachers, when we do talk to them, they say, ‘Yes, I agree. I don’t want my pension invested in fossil fuels. I just didn’t know that it was and I’m not sure where to go to have that changed,’” Diana said. 

Another ongoing struggle involved supporting fossil fuel workers themselves. "How do we, as a state and as a nation, give a pathway to people working in fossil fuels to have a new income source?" the organizer asked. This question has been a point of tension when they describe “the fossil fuel industry does not want people to know about it.” Around 32 million people globally are currently employed in a fossil fuel reliant industry. Divestment takes money away from large corporations, thus effectively stripping them of power. However, this also comes with decreasing jobs opportunities and unemployment due to companies' reliance on funding to continue operating. There have been ongoing debates about how to address this problem. It is probable that the shift to clean energy will also create new jobs, but this persists as a barrier as it causes public concern or hesitancy. 

Youth voices play a significant role in this. Deborah said students who talk to their teachers have been really effective. They pointed out that while teachers alone might not be able to make big changes, if they’re part of a union or connected to the school district’s funding, they can be activated to help. Letting teachers know what’s going on and that students have a voice is an important strategy to get more people involved. Recently, BAYCS co-hosted a workshop with Fossil Free California to learn about the importance of divestment, ways to get involved, and foster meaningful discussion surrounding first-hand experiences. Specifically, the discussion uncovered personal struggles of living in Richmond, where communities face ongoing pollution from Chevron. This workshop highlights the power of youth voices as it makes a large issue personal, driving collective determination towards activism. Overall, youth play a crucial role in mobilization, offering meaningful, powerful, and informed perspectives.

Overall Fossil Free California spearheads the divestment movement as both a dominant leader both in state and also beyond. They shed a realistic, yet hopeful light on the current state of activism. However, the main message is clear. Divestment is effective, but requires collaboration across generations. Everyone plays a role and can make a difference as one organizer concludes, "It's all connected. It's all the same movement."