FossilFreeUMC

“Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Philippians 3:7-8

In my previous post, “Envisioning the Transformation of the World” about the Conference on phasing out fossil fuels in Santa Marta, Colombia, I touched on my work as Convener of Fossil Free UMC, which focuses on fossil fuel divestment within and beyond the United Methodist Church. To read my other blog posts about this work, check out the Fossil Free UMC website. This post also addresses my work on fossil fuel divestment as well as personal considerations related to my clergy pension with the United Methodist Board of Pensions, Wespath.

United Methodist pensioners invested with Wespath’s traditional portfolios may see higher returns because of the skyrocketing value of energy stocks. Unfortunately, those of us who have transferred our pensions into Wespath’s alternative Social Values Choice (SVC) funds will lose out on such profits because these funds screen out fossil fuel corporations and “certain companies, issuers and securities associated with “high risk” areas demonstrating a prolonged and systematic pattern of human rights abuses.”

As we know, geopolitical violence drives up oil and gas prices, so oil and gas corporations are making a killing. The US/Israeli war on Iran is impacting global oil supplies, producing devastation to innocent people in the region and beyond and perpetuating “long-term horrors.”

This poses an ethical dilemma and choice for United Methodist pastors, conferences, and agencies invested in Wespath’s traditional portfolios. The choice is to share in the profits that come from the oil and gas corporations that drive climate change and that fuel conflict or to divest our own portfolios from such corporations.

I transferred my pension into Wespath’s “fossil free” SVC funds before the current war with Iran and global energy crisis. At the time, I knew that war and other shocks impact returns on oil and gas stocks, but for close to a decade returns from the “fossil free” SVC funds had been comparable to or had outperformed Wespath’s traditional funds. I felt good about it. It was an easy decision to make and it was easy to do. Making that change took a single phone call to Wespath to request that they put an equal share of my pension into each of their three SVC funds. Since that time, Wespath has made it even easier by incorporating these alternative funds into their well-managed LifeStage program for pensioners and by enabling institutional investors to access these funds, including annual conferences and United Methodist Agencies.

Meanwhile, oil and gas corporations’ profits are soaring as the Iran conflict continues. While the Social Values Choice funds are still chugging along at reasonable rates, if oil and gas profits continue to surge, pensioners invested in Wespath’s traditional funds will share in those profits. Indeed, some investment advisory firms recommend investing in specific oil and gas corporations that are expected to be exceptionally profitable, including Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and Occidental Petroleum, all of which are part of Wespath’s investment portfolios. Will Wespath follow that advice by increasing investments in these corporations? Perhaps. But even if Wespath just continues its current fossil fuel investments, it should give pause to all United Methodists.

Paragraph 717 of our Book of Discipline states that “All United Methodist institutions shall endeavor to seek investments in institutions, companies, corporations, or funds that promote racial and gender justice, protect human rights, prevent the use of sweatshop or forced labor, avoid human suffering, and preserve the natural world, including mitigating the effects of climate change. In addition, United Methodist institutions shall endeavor to avoid investments in companies engaged in core business activities that are not aligned with the Social Principles…” The list of investments to avoid include nuclear and conventional weapons, alcohol, tobacco, private prisons, gambling, and pornography. Fossil fuel corporations should be added to that list, not just in the alternative Social Values Choice portfolios but in all United Methodist Investments, because they are the largest perpetuators of the great harm posed by climate change and because of the role they play in current wars.

No amount of personal gain will convince me to accept a pension that supports or receives profits from fossil fuel corporations. “No blood for oil” has been a call of peacemakers for generations. An ethic of love of God and neighbor requires us to heed the cries of people in the midst of war, people struggling to pay for food and energy due to spiking prices, people suffering in regions devastated by conflict and environmental harm, children and young people hoping to inherit a livable world, and creation itself, which is being desecrated by war and climate change. Love of God and neighbor must include investing in peace, justice, and the well-being of all creation.

For all these reasons and more, whatever gains I had, or could have had with fossil fuel stocks, I have come to regard as loss. I am grateful that I transferred my pension into Wespath’s Social Values Choice funds. Regardless of whether the value of energy stocks goes up or down, I am glad I moved my money out of portfolios that include oil and gas corporations. I do not want my investments to further the suffering caused by climate change, inequity, or war. I still hold out hope that Wespath will make the ethical choice to fully divest from oil and gas corporations and reinvest in goods and services that promote a peaceful, clean-energy future.

Sharon Delgado is the Convener of Fossil Free UMC. She is an ordained United Methodist minister, author, speaker, and public theologian. The revised version of her book, Love in a Time of Climate Change:  Honoring Creation, Establishing Justice, is now available. Contact Sharon to find out more about her work, to schedule a presentation, or to order discounted bulk copies, discussion guides, or video introductions to her books.

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