Divest the BPS!

Members of this network might be (or know)  members of the British Psychological Society.   We are calling on the Trustees to join over 100 other UK organisations, including charities, pension funds, faith organisations and universities, to show leadership on climate change by divesting from its holdings in fossil fuel stocks. 

If you are a BPS member, please consider endorsing our Open Letter to Trustees.  If you aren't, but know psychologists, then please share this call for support. You might also like to get involved in the campaign, in which case do get in touch with me, Mark Burton.

Thanks!

Some further information follows:

Divest the BPS!

Global climate change is a health and well-being emergency. Its main cause is the continued extraction and burning of fossil fuels. This is important for a Society concerned with health and well-being: we know that climate change is a major threat to humanity. To play its part in combatting it, we call on the British Psychological Society (BPS) to show climate leadership by divesting from fossil fuels. Will you join us in calling for the BPS Trustees to divest?

The BPS has approximately £11M of investments.  It is not known how much is in fossil fuel companies, but if the portfolio is typical, then it is likely to be a significant proportion. We are told that the BPS Trustees are considering this matter but they have not told us how, or over what time-scale. Requests for information on the proportion of investments in fossil fuels and details of its deliberations have not been forthcoming. We are told that the Society has a “responsible investment policy”, but no copy has been produced when requested. This is not the way a transparent organisation behaves.

The BPS could show climate leadership and draw attention to the threat that climate change poses to health.  In so doing it will be in a much stronger position to lobby government for investments in the research and services needed to prepare the UK for the health and well-being impacts of climate change.

We call on the BPS to join more than one hundred UK organisations that have already divested from fossil fuels by:

• freezing new fossil fuel investments

• a managed programme of divestment, beginning with the most damaging stocks

• prioritising re-investment in assets that prioritise community well-being while delivering adequate returns.

Will you join more than 100 BPS members by endorsing the Open Letter at http://bit.ly/2rR8knE ?

You can also read our letter in the pages of the August Psychologist, here.