I was appalled recently to discover that Australian Ethical Super still invests in gas, a climate destroying fuel that cannot be described as ethical. I wrote to them about it and have been very unimpressed by their responses. If you are with Aus Ethical, please consider sending them similar emails to encourage them to drop their gas investments. Here is my correspondence, starting with the form letter generated on 350s Super Switch site. Dear Australian Ethical, I recently learned that Australian Ethical is exposed to the fossil fuel industry. As a member of Australian Ethical this means my retirement savings are helping to fund fossil fuels. This is very disappointing to discover, as I am concerned about the impacts that the fossil fuel industry has on our natural environment, in particular its role as a major driver of greenhouse gas emissions. We urgently need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and I certainly do not want my money associated with an industry that is driving the most serious environmental issue of our time. I am writing to make an official complaint that Australian Ethical is investing my superannuation in a sector that is causing major environmental harm and is at odds with my values. I am considering whether or not to find an alternative super fund but would at least like to know whether Australian Ethical is prepared to divest itself of fossil fuel companies first. Please write back to me as soon as possible to inform me of the action you are taking on this matter, so I can decide on my next steps about where to invest my super. Yours sincerely, Tim Hollo ---- On 15/09/2014, at 2:36 PM, Enquiries wrote: Dear Tim, Thanks so much for your email. We believe in a clean energy future. In fact, we have a substantial number of investments in renewable energy companies and those that focus on energy efficiency (reducing energy demand). We recognise the urgent need to avoid catastrophic climate change and reduce global emissions as quickly as possible. We avoid coal, oil, and coal seam gas but do invest in natural gas pipelines. This is because our comprehensive ethical analysis shows that the fastest and lowest emission path to a renewables-based future involves utilisation of existing gas infrastructure. As Greenpeace says, “as we move to a mostly renewable electricity sector, gas plants will be needed as back-up for times of high demand and low renewable production.”[i] Until energy storage technology evolves to the point that no other energy source is needed (still a long way off), gas is the best complementary source of energy to renewables, for two important reasons: · Its emissions are much lower than coal · Unlike coal, it can be switched on and off as needed Gas allows us to: · Transition off high emitting sources such as coal as urgently as possible; and · Nurture emerging renewable technologies whilst maintaining stable and reliable energy supply. Our support of gas is indirect, low, transitional and conditional. Thanks again for your email. Do you have any further questions? Would you like someone to call you to discuss further? Kind regards, Adam Kirk Head of Business Development & Client Relations Australian Ethical Investment ---- From: Tim Hollo Sent: Tuesday, 16 September 2014 10:30 AM To: Enquiries Subject: Re: Please divest from Fossil Fuel Companies - sent to Adam, Stuart & Paul 16/09 Dear Adam, Thank you for your response, but Im not satisfied by it. 1. There is plenty of evidence that gas is barely better than coal on a greenhouse basis. Once you account for leakage and fugitive emissions, the impact is almost as large, and in some cases larger. In particular, given methanes impact is far far greater in the short term, a bubble caused by increasing use of gas could tip us into very dangerous territory very fast, rather than helping. This link is about unconventional gas, I know, but the point about leakage stands: bze.org.au/media/radio/professor-robert-w-howarth-cornell-university-talks-shale-gas-emissions-and-110315 2. Broader than any argument about whether emissions from gas are slightly or substantially less than coals is the question of Australian Ethicals role as an ethical investor. There are massive government and institutional supporters for gas already. Surely it is not the role of an ethical investor to further support a polluting industry which already receives more than it needs. I ask you to remove your funds support for its remaining fossil fuel interests or I will sadly move my super to a truly fossil free option. With thanks, Tim ----- On 23/09/2014, at 3:05 PM, Enquiries wrote: Hi Tim, Thanks for giving us the opportunity to explain our position further. I’ll start with your second, broader point first. But why does AEI need to invest in gas? The ethical question we ask is what are the best tools we have today to move to a better future? We firmly believe that the fastest, lowest warming path to a clean energy future is one which includes gas for a transitional period. We do not believe 100% fossil free investment today serves the world’s best interests. We acknowledge that the gas industry will attract the capital it needs without our help. But we adopt an ethical investment approach which includes in our investment universe all things which we believe will make the world a better place (including which in this case will deliver the best climate outcome). This is consistent with our advocacy and engagement work with other institutional investors encouraging them to recognise their ethical and stewardship responsibilities i.e. we are working for ethical investment to become the mainstream. Fugitive emissions We acknowledge that more work needs to be done to increase certainty about levels of fugitives, and to advance industry regulation and practices around fugitive monitoring and capture, particularly in relation to unconventional gas (which we avoid). At the same time we see a strong scientific consensus that gas is a lower emissions fuel than coal, which underwrites the role it plays in a wide range of modelled paths to
Posted on: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 04:17:49 +0000
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