It has recently come to my attention that our superannuation companies/retirement fund companies often reinvest our money into fossil fuel industries. I mean, after all there is big money where oil and coal is concerned, but as someone who is actively trying to reduce my reliance upon and use of fossil fuels, Supporting those that invest in them is not a comforting thought.
I receive emails from 350.org in Australia (you can choose your country of origin) that keep on top of this sort of information. Their aim is to reduce the carbon in our atmosphere to 350ppm, something that would have prevented the climate from warming. With our carbon levels now around the 400ppm, climate change is as unstoppable as a fully loaded train careening don the mountain track. But by reducing the carbon we can hopefully at least slow those changes and maybe be able to manage our descent into the post peak oil world. One of these emails was about encouraging our super companies to divest (the opposite of invest) from fossil fuel companies. By following this link you can find out what your company is rated as for investment. Sadly, my super company is rated ‘D’ which is not a good score. I’ve sent them an email asking about their investments and hope to receive a response (am I being naive?) so that I can then decide what goes from there.
If you wish to encourage divestment from fossil fuels or want to find which company to invest with to not support these dirty energy industries, follow this link. It will take you to the are you the vital few page where you can enter your details and choose a letter that best suits (standard, financial, environmental or polite inquiry) and send it off to your super company.
Think on this too. The more time passes the dearer fossil fuels will get as their scarcity or extraction price increases. However, with investment and support now, clean energy will continue to become more and more affordable. The time to act is now.
Rabid Little Hippy 
Jessie, thanks for that information. Another area of our lives to scrutinise – but maybe one that will make a significant difference. The amount of money in pension funds is staggering!
It seems we need to scrutinise EVERYTHING these days which really annoys me. What happened to a little transparency?! Yes, the amount of money invested in super funds would be min blowing. And if the gross majority of it is backing up and funding fossil fuels, just imagine the impact of even one super fund reinvesting their portfolio in clean energy! Huge impacts for both fossil fuels and for green energy! It would be a real game changer. Here’s hoping they take note.