Stuttgart pulls funds out of fossil fuels

Stuttgart, in the southwest of Germany, has decided to pull its funds out of fossil fuels in response to the mounting threat of climate change.

“Over the last year, we met with representatives of different parties, questioning the current approach, giving input and discussing solutions and alternatives to the public investments in the fossil fuel industry,” Carolin Jascheck of Fossil Free Stuttgart, told Cities Today. “Besides that, there were many activities and collaborations with other parts of the local civil society. We also organised panel discussions, movie screenings, creative actions and had stands at fairs. This was done to maintain high pressure on decision makers and to prove that we won’t stop to push on our claim.”

The new investment criteria will see the city drop about 75 Stoxx-Europe listed companies engaging in coal, oil and unconventional gas or fracking from its current investments, including Energie Baden-Württemberg, E.ON, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Elektrizitätswerk, BASF and Bayer. The new guidelines also cover additional ethical investment criteria of environmental and social aspects as well as good governance.

“The city council promised to compile an annual report on the status of new investments,” added Jascheck. “Fossil Free Stuttgart is following this development and checking up on the promise. A few days after the decision we asked the responsible person at the city council to explain, in detail, which companies will be affected, but are still waiting for a response. We will keep on asking.”

Stuttgart’s new investment guidelines will apply to any new investments made after 1 September 2016. Existing holdings that don’t meet the new criteria will be dropped.

Stuttgart developed its criteria based on the example of the Münster, the first city in Germany to ban coal, oil and gas from its portfolio. Last month, Germany’s capital city Berlin decided to divest from fossil fuels as well.

“The speed at which cities are cutting their financial ties to fossil fuel companies is dizzying,” said Melanie Mattauch, Europe Communications Coordinator for 350.org, an international effort to raise awareness of the need to decrease carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million. “It shows how quickly the coal, oil and gas industry is losing public acceptance. We’re expecting this trend to continue as more and more citizens call on their local governments to stop investing in companies whose business model is incompatible with a liveable planet.”