Presentation – San Jose Presbytery
This is Susan Chamberlain, and I am Evan Hughes, we are both ruling elders from First Presbyterian Palo Alto and lifelong Presbyterians. I, am a scientist and Susan, is a health care professional. We and our colleagues are convinced about the urgent need to address the climate impacts of burning fossil fuels on our beloved earth.
God calls us to be stewards of the earth and to care for the least of these.
This includes our brothers and sisters who speak Tagolog, and Swahili, the fish of the sea, birds of the air, plants of the earth, and the generations to come. We are in violation of God’s trust as we continue to support the global warming, ocean acidification, species eradication and all the other effects of the burning of fossil fuels.
Two years ago we shared with you an overture to divest from fossil fuels.
You passed it as a concurring presbytery. It went to General Assembly 2014 with the strong support of 12 presbyteries across the country. After lengthy debate, the commissioners voted to refer the overture to MRTI to study and report back at the 2016 GA.
Since then, momentum for divestment from fossil fuels has been growing.
Faith denominations to divest in the U.S. include the World Council of
Churches, UCC, Unitarians, Methodists, Episcopalians, Union Theological
Seminary, Lutheran World Federation. In all, 400 organizations including faith groups and denominations abroad, government pension funds, colleges and universities, and philanthropies around the world -- controlling 2.6 trillion dollars in assets – have divested from fossil fuels.
In our denomination, Fossil Free PCUSA has been working closely with
MRTI, attending meetings testifying about climate change and fossil fuel divestment, and building collaborative relationships.
We have developed a new overture for the 2016 GA. We’re in conversation with 90 presbyteries across the US. Two have already passed the 2016 overture and 10 more are considering it this month. We expect the total number of concurring presbyteries to exceed 25, more than twice that supporting it in 2014. We are asking you to make San Jose a concurring presbytery.

Both the 2014 and 2016 overtures call for:

The Board of Pensions and the PC(USA) Foundation to immediately stop any new direct investment in fossil fuel companies

Divestment by 2018 from the fossil fuel companies identified in the
Carbon Underground 200 list.
Among the provisions which have been added, based on feedback from
GA2014 and MRTI meetings since 2014, are:

Actively seeking out and investing in renewable energy securities

Allowing minimal sufficient investment in fossil fuel companies to participate in shareholder engagement activities, usually $2000.00
Why should we take this action to divest?
First and foremost it’s the morally right thing to do. According to the Pope,
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and our own Gradye Parsons, divestment is a moral issue, not a political or economic one. If it is wrong to wreck the planet, it is wrong to profit from wrecking the planet. When our investment choices rely on good returns from companies that produce burnable carbon, we are rooting for the wrong team.
Second, we are joining a movement, and movements are what change history. Our church needs to stand with others to be the leading moral voice.
Think of the anti-apartheid movement, the Viet Nam war opposition, the civil rights movement, and the abolition of slavery. We are powerful when we join our voices with others to form a loud chorus to say “this is wrong.”
Throughout our Presbyterian history, we have made choices to say NO, through divestment – to apartheid, to tobacco, to alcohol, to weapons.
Third, by calling out the fossil fuel companies on their destructive practices we are removing their social license to continue business as usual. This lessens their power to get favorable legislation protecting their industry. It gives wind at the back of Congress to enact strong energy policy and get the country converted to safe, economical, renewable energy.
We need to act with urgency to transition to a world where renewable energy fuels our lives. Four decades of delay have brought us to the point that there are now 5 times more fossil fuel reserves controlled by the fossil fuel companies as can be safely burned.

Jobs in the fossil fuel industry can and will be replaced by jobs in renewable energy. These jobs are going to have a central place in the low-carbon economy — and they will be healthier for workers.
Divestment will not jeopardize the pensions of our clergy. Multiple studies show that fossil free portfolios do as well if not better than those with fossil fuels. In fact, carbon regulations being put into place are making fossil fuel stocks riskier by the month.
As Christians, we have the privilege and obligation to speak with moral authority on issues of great importance. The power and clarity of our prophetic voice on climate change must not be undermined by the hypocrisy of our investments in fossil fuel companies. Our moral witness places us squarely on the right side of history in addressing climate change.