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By a vote of 50-13, the committee voted to approve CLJ-02, an overture from Susquehanna Valley Presbytery to divest from fossil fuel companies by 2030, or as close to that date as possible.
More specifically, the overture, which now proceeds to plenary, calls upon all Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)-related fiduciaries to “undertake the orderly removal of investments from all companies whose primary business (more than 50 percent of annual profit) is based on the extraction, refinement, transport, or sale of fossil fuels, with the goal of fully completing this divestment by 2030 or as soon thereafter as prudent management allows.”
The item was amended to call upon the church — through the Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) — to keep future General Assemblies up-to-date by reporting on their progress at the 228th (2028) and 229th (2030) GAs.
Some other components of CLJ-02 include no longer initiating new investments in these companies but rather taking steps to find suitable opportunities in renewable energy sectors that meet established ethical and risk-return criteria.
Related reading: “Why fossil fuel divestment is back before the General Assembly” by Fred Milligan
CLJ-02 survived largely intact despite efforts to remove some of its key components and concerns raised about whether the divestment recommendations would be implementable by entities, such as the Presbyterian Foundation and the Board of Pensions.
Dexter Mitchell, a Young Adult Advisory Delegate from the Presbytery de Cristo, said, “We continue getting stuck in these weeds, but that’s not the argument that GA sets before us. It’s about determining the will of the church and the Holy Spirit. … The financial and procedural recommendations given by the fiduciaries don’t really have a place in whether or not it’s a faithful action.”
Mitchell also said it’s not the time to compromise. It’s better to say, “We’re out, we’re done. We do not support this anymore.”
The approval came a day after the committee voted in favor of CLJ-01, MRTI’s report, which calls for continued engagement with fossil fuel companies and continuing with “selective divestment” by placing ConocoPhillips and Duke Energy on the General Assembly Divestment/Proscription List for failing to meet GA criteria related to the environment.
When a committee member asked Tuesday what was the difference between CLJ-01 and CLJ-02, Pam McVety, an overture advocate from Florida Presbytery who’d earlier given a presentation in support of CLJ-02, said, “One report comes from the denominational staff; the other report comes from the people in the pews. The first one insists that business as usual is OK. The one that comes from the people in the pews says, ‘No, it’s not.’ We need to do better and we can do better.”
In addition to approving CLJ-02, the committee voted for CLJ-03, which calls for creating a Green Future Fund. That’s an endowment fund to make grants for supporting greenhouse gas emission reduction and renewable energy transition as well as things like addressing harms suffered by marginalized communities.
Courtney Steininger, an overture advocate from the Presbytery of Cayuga-Syracuse, said establishment of such a fund would allow “us to go beyond just divestment and align our financial practices with our theological convictions and to leave a legacy of hope, repair and renewal for future generations.”
Related reading: “MRTI defends engagement over categorical fossil fuel divestment” by Kerri Allen and Mark Douglas
Earlier in the day, McVety had brought home how the world’s climate crisis is impacting people in her home state, where repeated “monster hurricanes” are a reality.
“Statistics do not convey the full weight of waiting for a storm strong enough to tear the roof off your home and possibly kill you or your family,” she said while advocating for CLJ-02. “I’m upset that over 8 million humans, predominantly poor communities of color, die annually from the combustion of fossil fuels when my denomination speaks of concern, helps a few and calls that an accomplishment.”
Another proponent of CLJ-02 was Fred Milligan, an author of the overture and co-facilitator of the Presbyterians for Earth Care Advocacy Committee.
“The current process, as it relates to fossil fuel companies, has shown precious little evidence of real outcomes, either in terms of reducing their emissions or providing assistance to the thousands of communities across the country and world harmed by them. Even less has this engagement led to reductions in the production of gasoline and other energy products, whose use is the primary source of the climate change, which wreaks havoc on billions daily across the globe.”
He also noted that the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) had recommended passage of the overture. In the written comments, ACSWP did object, however, to one component that it felt went beyond the denomination’s social witness policy; that language was changed in the version of CLJ-02 that ultimately passed to say that PC(USA)’s actions on fossil fuels should align with guidelines from ACSWP’s policy paper on fossil fuels, “Intent, Effect, Haste,” which is moving forward to plenary through CLJ-05.
By Darla Carter, Presbyterian News Service
