Boston City Councilors Call City To Divest From Fossil Fuels

BOSTON — Councilors Lydia Edwards and Michelle Wu proposed an ordinance that would require the city of Boston to divest from fossil fuels by the end of 2025. It would also entail an annual report of where the city is investing, and how it can improve its holdings.

“Man-made fossil fuels are responsible for 80 percent of the greenhouse gases that are released into the atmosphere. We cannot be part of investing in them,” Edwards, the councilor for District 1, said at the council meeting on Wednesday. “Divestment has proven to be an effective strategy—it stigmatizes unethical industries and institutions and practices by state governments.”

The ordinance defines fossil fuel investments as any company which derives “more than 15 percent of its revenue from the combustion, distribution, extraction, manufacture, or sale of fossil girls, which shall include coal, oil and gas, or fossil fuel products.

“Our scientists are telling us that we are at a critical juncture,” Edwards said. “We need to put our money where our mouth is. The irony is, many of us are fighting for that carbon neutrality, while our retirements are based on fossil fuels being robust. I don’t want to be part of that. I don’t want to be a hypocrite.”

Wu noted that young climate activists have made waves when it comes to divestment, with coalitions of students suing their universities. Harvard University students, along with Wu, filed a complaint this week saying that Harvard’s investment in the industry goes against the state’s Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act, as reported by WBUR.

“With this step, we are urging the council and the city to fulfill our role as fiscal stewards,” said Wu at the meeting. “We know that investing in these harmful, predatory, companies that are damaging the world’s natural systems is actually a financially unstable decision as well. We want to move our money toward more sustainable, more stable and long term protective investments for everyone in the city of Boston.”

The ordinance was referred to the Committee on Government Operations.