Two Optionsof Model Resolutions from Fossil Free UMCand the United Methodist Creation Justice Movementare below. These two model resolutions are focused on annual conferences studying about and/or divesting their own conference portfolios from fossil fuels. See also another divestment resolution focused calling on on our UM Board of Pensions, Wespath, to divest from fossil fuels: Urging Fossil Fuel Divestment of All Denominational Funds at Wespath Contact fossilfreeumc@earth-justice.org for assistance with this process.
Focus of Option #1:
- Divestment commitment, strategy, and implementation for Annual Conference funds.
- Adds a moral screen to screen out fossil fuels from all Conference investments, similar to existing screens for tobacco, liquor, and gambling.
Focus of Option #2:
- Study best divestment practices for Conference funds divestment
- Report of divestment proposal at next annual conference
How to use these resolutions. For both resolutions, the reasons why the annual conference should consider taking action (the Whereas section) is the same. Following that, the first resolution calls for the annual conference to divest from fossil fuels and report back to the annual conference about progress and results. The second resolution calls for the forming of a task force organized by the Conference Council on Finance & Administration for ongoing study, consultation, and engagement on how to identify sound financial strategies to screen out fossil fuels from conference investment portfolios.
Note: These options are for divestment of Annual Conference funds and investments. Pensions for pastors and United Methodist staff are not included in these resolutions, as pensions already have divestment options.
Annual Conference Fossil Fuel Divestment Resolutions
WHEREAS: The spiritual and moral reasons for divesting from fossil fuels are clear. Jesus said, “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31). In “The General Rules,” John Wesley said, “First: By doing no harm, by avoiding evil of every kind, especially that which is most generally practiced….” In secular terms, the simplest moral reason is that “It is wrong to profit from wrecking the planet.”
WHEREAS: In 1980, The United Methodist General Conference as a body passed a resolution on Energy Policy acknowledging the harm caused by fossil fuels: 1120. 2024 Book of Resolutions, starting on page 67. The UMC was the first denomination to call for a just transition away from fossil fuels toward conservation and renewable energy by governments and the church, yet our denomination continues to invest in and profit from coal, oil, and gas.
WHEREAS: The United Methodist Church’s endorsement of fossil fuel corporations through our investments belies our stated commitment to a transition away from fossil fuels and toward a just and sustainable future. Two decades of corporate engagement and stockholder actions with the world’s largest greenhouse gas producers, including Chevron, Exxon Mobil, and Occidental Petroleum, have failed.
WHEREAS: These corporations have known since the mid 1950s that their products would warm the climate and endanger creation, but instead of transitioning to conservation and renewable energy, they created a massive public relations campaign to foster doubt that climate change was real. Their profit-seeking strategies continue today in the form of “greenwashing,” lobbying government for corporate subsidies, and blocking strong climate legislation and international treaties. By continuing to invest and engage with them, we provide moral cover for these corporate “bad actors.” This makes The United Methodist Church complicit in knowingly causing unspeakable harm to children, marginalized people, our human family, and the community of all creation, not just now but into the future.
WHEREAS: In addition to being the primary drivers of climate change, fossil fuels cause tremendous harm in their extraction, transport, and processing. They create “sacrifice zones” by polluting marginalized, mostly Black and Brown neighborhoods, regions, and countries. When burned, they cause harm on a scale that threatens human civilization and the community of creation here on Earth. This harm disproportionately impacts the world’s most vulnerable people, who have done the least to cause climate change.
WHEREAS: The fossil fuel divestment movement has now grown to over 1,600 institutions with assets totaling over $40.6 trillion that have divested from fossil fuels, including 42 additional faith institutions in November 2025, list. In 2023, churches in Scotland, England, and Wales divested, including the Methodist Church of Great Britain and the Church of England. As the first denomination to call for a transition away from fossil fuels, it is ironic that we are so far behind. If we divest from fossil fuels here in the ____________ Annual Conference, it will be a witness to how The United Methodist Church can walk its talk about climate change.
WHEREAS: There are also financial reasons to divest. In the past ten years, fossil fuels have underperformed when compared to the overall stock market. Many alternative investment funds are available that are largely fossil free, including the Social Values Choice funds administered by Wespath. These funds have a five-year history of competitive returns.
WHEREAS: Investing is always risky, but investing in fossil fuel stocks will become ever-riskier financially as climate change accelerates. Their value is based on their coal, oil, and methane gas reserves, which cannot all be burned without making the planet uninhabitable. These reserves will become “stranded assets” as the global transition to renewables advances, as renewables continue to gain market ground, as governments develop stronger climate legislation to meet global commitments, as lawsuits against fossil fuel corporations become more common, and as large institutions continue to divest.
WHEREAS: By divesting from fossil fuels, ______________ Annual Conference takes a step towards living into our commitments regarding climate change and transitioning toward a just and sustainable clean energy future.
Resolution Option 1: Divesting From Fossil Fuels as an Annual Conference
BE IT RESOLVED that by October 1, 2026, the _________________ Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church shall identify all investments in their portfolios whose core business activity involves the production of coal, petroleum, or natural gas. Core business activity refers to a company’s primary, central focus of activity and is an essential element in the company’s economic success, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that by December 1, 2026, the _____________Annual Conference shall have identified sound financial strategies to screen out fossil fuels from conference investment portfolios, with the help of consultation and resources readily available through annual conferences that have already divested from fossil fuels.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that by May 1, 2027, the ______________Annual Conference shall be following a clear path of divestment away from any company or entity whose core business activity involves the production of coal, petroleum, or natural gas, and investment toward products or services that are consistent with United Methodist values on climate and energy as stated in the Social Principles, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that there will be a report on the progress of divestment from fossil fuels and a timeline for its completion made by the conference treasurer’s office to the 2027 ______________ Annual Conference session.
Resolution Option 2: Creating a Task Force for Annual Conference Fossil Fuel Divestment
BE IT RESOLVED that by October 1, 2026, the ____________________Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church shall identify all investments in their portfolios whose core business activity involves the production of coal, petroleum, or natural gas. Core business activity refers to a company’s primary, or central focus of activity and is an essential element in the company’s economic success, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the ____________________Annual Conference Council on Finance and Administration convene a task force that includes ongoing study, consultation, and engagement during the upcoming conference year on how to identify sound financial strategies to screen out fossil fuels from Conference investment portfolios. The task force will include members from the following agencies and teams: Conference Board of Pensions, Conference Foundation, Conference Claimants Endowment Board, Conference Green Team [or equivalent], General Council on Finance and Administration, Wespath, United Methodist Creation Justice Movement, and Fossil Free UMC.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that, following the work of the task force, the various agencies of the _____________________Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church shall begin to gradually reduce investments in any company or entity whose core business activity involves the production of coal, petroleum, or natural gas, and to invest instead in products or services that are consistent with United Methodist positions on energy and climate as stated in the Social Principles, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that, the _________________Conference Council on Finance and Administration will make a report, including recommendations, to the 2027 Annual Conference.
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Find more info on the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement’s Model Resolutions page. Find more information about Divestment from Fossil Fuels at Fossil Free UMC.
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