Thread by @350Europe

Did you catch @BillMcKibben’s article in the @NewYorker last week?

TL;DR? No worries, we summed it up for you. [IN THREAD]

Hint: It’s about the ONE thing we can do to hit the fossil fuel industry where it hurts 🤑

newyorker.com/news/daily-com… #fossilfinance

@billmckibben @NewYorker "This spring, we set another high mark for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere: 415 parts per million, higher than it has been in many millions of years."
🔥🔥🔥
"The summer began with the hottest June ever recorded, and then July became the hottest month ever recorded."

@billmckibben @NewYorker But there’s good news, too: as more and more people are joining in the fight. (See @GretaThunberg, @ExtinctionR and more!)

“The question is, what levers can we pull that might possibly create change within the time that we need it to happen?” Hint: it’s 💰💰💰

#fossilfinance

@billmckibben @NewYorker @GretaThunberg @ExtinctionR Personal changes (like giving up flying and eating meat) or electing greener candidates and lobbying for climate policies are important.

BUT

“We need to do more, for the simple reason that [these changes] may not pay off fast enough.” ⏰

@billmckibben @NewYorker @GretaThunberg @ExtinctionR “I suspect that the key to disrupting the flow of carbon into the atmosphere may lie in disrupting the flow of money to coal and oil and gas.” says @billmckibben

Tired of reading?
YES: Take 30s to sign this petition: act.350.org/signup/take-mo…

NO: Stay for key facts & figures 👇

@billmckibben @NewYorker @GretaThunberg @ExtinctionR W/o banks, insurance companies and asset managers, fossil-fuel companies would literally run out of gas but banks & insurers would be fine 👍

BUT

An annual report by @RAN shows that since the Paris climate accord, banks’ lending to the industry has gone☝️every year.

@billmckibben @NewYorker @GretaThunberg @ExtinctionR @RAN The Bank of England governor warned 4 years ago that the fossil fuels needing to be left underground make a 20 trillion-dollar “carbon bubble” - far bigger than the 2008 housing bubble. ⚫

But 20 trillion dollars is little compared to the potential costs of #ClimateBreakdown

@billmckibben @NewYorker @GretaThunberg @ExtinctionR @RAN “To enable the expansion of a deadly fossil-fuel industry, whose business model is certain to cause the death and suffering of millions of people and the loss of much of the earth’s diversity”

This is morally wrong, argues Lee Wasserman of the Rockefeller Family Fund.

@billmckibben @NewYorker @GretaThunberg @ExtinctionR @RAN A sell-off in fossil-fuel stocks would be only half the story.

💵 would also instead pour into renewable energy, and, since solar and wind power will be increasingly cheaper than fossil fuels [it would] “prompt substantial gains economy-wide” 🌞

@billmckibben @NewYorker @GretaThunberg @ExtinctionR @RAN “It would be a signal that the “fossil-fuel industry has the wind in its face and been kicked in the ass.” 🌪️🦶

How large a signal?
The assets BlackRock’s managing are worth nearly $7 trillion, big enough to be the world's 3rd-largest economy, after only the US and China.

@billmckibben @NewYorker @GretaThunberg @ExtinctionR @RAN “No one should actually be a master of the universe. But, for the moment, the financial giants are the masters of our planet. Perhaps we can make them put that power to use. Fast.”

- @BillMcKibben

Sign this petition if you agree: act.350.org/signup/take-mo…

#EndFossilFinance