Thread by @OperationNoah

Over the next two weeks, leading up to the Church of England's debate on #divestment on 8 July, we'll be looking at the issue in depth: the arguments, facts and figures.

We're asking Synod members to support the Oxford amendment which sets targets and timescales for divestment.

First in the series: how much does the Church of England invest in #fossilfuel companies? ⛽️

Number two: at its last AGM in May, #Shell ordered its shareholders to vote down a resolution calling on the company to set emissions reduction targets in line with the #ParisAgreement 🌍

Next up: the energy 'scenarios' that the Church of England's 'Transition Pathway Initiative' uses were developed by the International Energy Agency.

One is based on a 4°C global temperature increase. The other gives only a 50% chance of limiting 🌡️ rise to 2°C.

Number 4: #fossilfuel companies like #Shell and #BP are using scenarios for their business planning that have been shown to be 'consistent with 3–5°C+ of global warming' in research by @ShareActionUK

Fossil fuel investments are becoming more risky. A 2017 Carbon Tracker report showed fossil fuel companies were risking $2.3 trillion of potential future investments on projects that will never be pursued if global average temperature rise is limited to 2°C." @CarbonBubble

Number 6: Fossil fuel companies are taking humanity on a path to dangerous levels of #climatechange. Is it ethical for Churches to profit from these companies, or is it time to #divest?

#7: Even if current government pledges under the #ParisAgreement were fully implemented, the UN warns it is very likely we would still see 3°C+ of warming by the end of the century: news.un.org/en/story/2017/…

Our 8th graphic in the series: the Church of England has made #divestment decisions on ethical grounds before. Now let's rise to the challenge of climate change - what the @WHO calls the "greatest threat to global health in the 21st century". #Synod

Graphic #9: a @ComRes poll commissioned by @christian_aid last year found 78% of respondents believed that investing in companies causing dangerous climate change is morally wrong, no matter how profitable it might be: comresglobal.com/polls/christia…

Number 10: Clean technologies need investment to accelerate the energy transition. By financing the solutions to the climate crisis, we can help create the world we want to see. #Synod

Graphic #11: studies by Newton Asset Management and St Andrews University show that fossil fuel #divestment need not have an impact on returns.

The famous investor Jeremy Grantham also spoke recently of the 'mythical peril' of divestment: lse.ac.uk/GranthamInstit… #Synod