ACC, Go Fossil Free
Public funds must be for public good.
Call on ACC to go fossil free!
ACC, one of our major public investment funds, is using over $700 million of our public money to line the pockets of dirty fossil fuel companies that have knowingly pushed our climate to the brink of collapse and are now threatening to take us over the edge.
ACC needs to guarantee that the money we contribute to help others receive care is not propping up the fossil fuel industry.
It’s up to us to bring ACC on track to put our communities and environment first and use our public funds to build a healthier future for all of us by stopping investing in the fossil fuel industry.
Public funds must be for public good. Call on ACC to play its part in creating a safe future for all of us and stop investing our public funds in coal, oil, and gas companies.
To the CEO and Board of ACC,
We call on you to deliver on your commitment to take a leadership role to support the Government’s commitment to limit global temperature increases, reduce emissions and limit the global average temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
As a public institution, ACC must ensure the money we contribute to help others receive care is being managed responsibly. ACC has a mandate to provide care and this ethos must apply equally to people, communities and the environment.
As managers of the ACC investment fund, you have a fiduciary responsibility to achieve the best possible mix of long-term return and risk on our investment funds, and a responsibility to do so in an ethical way. Fossil fuel companies are perpetuating a dangerous myth about endless growth and are determined to keep digging for coal, oil, and gas to lock us into decades of dependency on dirty energy to protect their pockets. In doing so, they take away our freedom to determine a different future that is safe for our communities and our climate. Fossil fuels stocks also pose financial risks to ACC's Investment Fund from stranded assets and sector decline. It is no longer ethically or financially responsible for ACC to invest our public funds in coal, oil, and gas companies.
We, the undersigned, urge ACC to immediately halt all investments in coal, oil, and gas companies and instead use our public funds to build a healthier future for all of us.
Not even newsworthy – campaign update from August 2022
ACC’s new Direct Investment Exclusion List proves that they continue to neglect its responsibility as one of the largest public funds in Aotearoa to divest from fossil fuels! We can’t let ACC get through with this.
CAMPAIGN INFO
What is ACC & why does it have investments?
ACC is a Crown entity that aims to provide care for New Zealanders if they’ve had an accident. It also manages a Crown Financial Institute to fund the liability of injuries. It invests this money in order to grow the fund and reduce the cost of injuries for New Zealanders. The fund size is currently about $50 billion dollars.
Our focus for this campaign is on ACC’s investment fund as a public fund, not its accident compensation delivery. We recognise that many people have experiences with ACC that involve real difficulty getting themselves or a loved one covered, and we stand in solidarity with those calling for more equitable support and services from ACC.
What does ACC have to do with climate change?
In order to stop climate change, we need to dismantle the power of the fossil fuel industry and stop the flow of money that enables fossil fuel projects to go ahead. Our major financial institutions like ACC are currently keeping the world’s biggest polluters afloat by investing in and lending to coal, oil, and gas companies. ACC has over $200 million of our public money invested in fossil fuels. This is one of the most significant ways that we in Aotearoa are contributing to climate destruction.
As a public institution, ACC must ensure the money we contribute to help others receive care is being managed responsibly. It must put our communities and environment first and use our public funds to build a healthier future for all of us. ACC must divest from fossil fuels and shift our money towards sustainable solutions that will enable us to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
We all have a stake in ACC, by receiving care or contributing levies. Together we are calling for ACC to do the right thing and play its part to create a safe future for people and the planet by stopping investing in fossil fuel companies.
How can I have any impact on the fossil fuel industry?
The fossil fuel industry has knowingly pushed our climate to the brink of collapse, as the industry most responsible for global emissions, and is now threatening to take us over the edge. Fossil fuel companies are determined to keep digging for coal, oil, and gas to lock us into decades of dependency on dirty energy to protect their pockets.
As individuals, we don’t have the money or the influence to impact how fossil fuel companies operate. But all of us have a stake in our institutions, whether it be our banks, city councils or public funds. These institutions hold investment portfolios that include investments in fossil fuel companies. When we come together and call on these institutions to break ties with the fossil fuel companies, the fossil fuel industry starts to hear us.
The beauty of the movement is that anyone can be involved in campaigning their local institutions to take a moral stance and divest from fossil fuels. You don’t have to understand the technical details of climate science or the financial sector. Our argument is moral. If it’s wrong to wreck the planet, it’s wrong to profit from that wreckage. We can do this by working together and connecting with intersecting movements to simultaneously address the environmental, social justice, and economic issues that climate change exacerbates.
By calling on our major institutions like ACC to break free from fossil fuels, we weaken the political and social license of the fossil fuel industry and move one step closer to a fossil free future.
Read our 2021 report: ‘ACC – Accelerating Climate Change’
Check out the report that relaunched our ACC Go Fossil Free campaign in December 2021. ‘ACC – Accelerating Climate Change’ exposes the relationship between the fossil fuel industry and our public fund that is investing against the public good. FInd out more about ACC’s investments in the major players, the greenhouse gas giants, and the companies whose activities have most directly affected the people of Aotearoa, Pacific Islanders, and frontline communities across the world.
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