Divestment Day 2020 - POSTPONED

Thank you to all RSVPs and people who are putting in effort to organise Divestment Day on March 20.

Unfortunately, due to the need to limit public gatherings to reduce the spread of COVID-19, we will be postponing Divestment Day public actions until a time when it is advised as safe to run them.

However, we have every intention of maintaining the pressure on the major banks who continue their destructive lending to dirty fossil fuels. We will do this by collecting the stories of all the people divesting and putting them online where the banks and broader public will see them.

If you are planning on closing your Westpac, ANZ, Commbank or NAB account, please email [email protected] and let us know! We can help you either in person or online to capture your action by taking a photo, recording a video or writing about it.

Additionally, the Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action group is sending an open letter to the big four banks this Friday calling on them to stop lending to fossil fuels. It will be published as a full page ad in the Financial Review. Keep an eye out for an email from us that day on how you can help amplify their important message.

We want to make special mention of all of the amazing supporters and volunteers who have been working hard to organise Divestment Day actions across Australia. Thank you for all your great work. However, we feel this is the right decision to protect the health of everyone.

Thanks to all our work preparing for Divestment Day, we now have an opportunity to capture and share some of the powerful divestment stories from all of you and make sure the banks will still get the message that the community expects them to stop fueling ever-worsening bushfires, floods, drought and storms.

So if you are ready to divest, please email [email protected] to let us know and we’ll be in touch with alternative plans to help you divest in style!

Divestment Stories

Goodbye Bank of Melbourne and Westpac

As a medical specialist, I recognise the adverse health impacts of coal combustion and its central contribution to climate change. This is not a statement of ideology but purely a scientific one.

Any bank ignoring this can expect divestment action from their customers. We sent a letter of notice in 2017 but since then Bank of Melbourne/Westpac Group has increased lending to the fossil fuel sector with no discernible strategy to exit coal financing. We are now with a lender more aligned with our values as well as the Paris Agreement.

Dr Steven, Melbourne

Moving away from CommBank

The main reason for divesting was seeing that the elites and vested interests were unwilling to consider the moral or ethical impact of their actions, and they could not care less what ordinary people think. I realised that the only way we could make an impact was by using something these people understand - money.

By acting en masse within our wonderful superannuation system (the 4th largest in the world despite a population of only 25 million), we can make a difference. Even the business community and some of the more advanced Banks and other financial institutions realise the need for change at last.

Tanya H, Bywong NSW

Wave farewell Westpac

My partner and I have a medical background that is based on using best available science and evidence to protect people from harm and preventing illness by identifying and trying to change harmful behaviours, substances and legislation.

From this naturally follows that we have to accept current scientific evidence on the deadly impact of air-pollution, already killing over 8 million people every year, and climate change, the destructive forces of which we have experienced all too clearly this year in Australia and around the world.

We realized that both our default Superannuation and our bank were heavily invested in fossil-fuel companies through shares or loans and we decided that we could no longer let them use our money to finance something that has been proven to be as damaging, outdated and deadly as asbestos or tobacco. After writing to Westpac repeatedly yet without any change of their direction we moved our bank and divested our Super to fossil-free options.

In spite of this purely ethical and scientific decision we are currently reaping higher returns in our Super and paying lower interest-rates and bank-fees while no longer financing an outdated, dangerous and deadly industry with our money. Feels good.

Dr Steinvorth & Brigit Weld - Lismore

Westpac staff messages to Westpac decision makers

Market Forces has asked Westpac staff to complete an anonymous staff survey asking whether they support Westpac's lending to coal, oil and gas. Below are some of the messages that Westpac staff wanted to send to Westpac.

Westpac needs to do better

Westpac used to be the world’s leading financial institution on sustainability. It’s one of the reasons I joined. We’ve slipped, and that diminishes my sense of shared purpose; of focus on mission; of One Team. We in Australia have just witnessed (many endured) the first undeniably attributable climate change event. Our millions of customers need us to do better.

Environment should guide our principles

Time to be bold