Change finance, not the climate – Friends Newsletter 2019 #5

Today, the Global Climate Strike is happening again: millions of people all around the world are stepping up to support young climate strikers. Together, they will sound the alarm and show politicians that business as usual is no longer an option.

At Finance Watch, we want to contribute to this week of action with our guide “9 financial reforms that Climate Strikers should demand”, including cartoons to illustrate each topic. A shortened version of this guide is also available as an infographic. Have a look!

Everybody needs to understand how important it is to change our financial system, if we want to stop climate change. For decades, it has exacerbated the climate crisis due to the domination of very large financial institutions focused on short-term profit and driven by shareholder primacy.

Please help us to spread the word: You can use these links to share our guide on Twitter on Facebook or just forward this email. Thanks!

Here is what we propose:

1. Redirect financial flows by defining what is clean and what is not
2. Make companies report on their social and environmental impacts
3. Let people decide where their money really goes
4. Penalise polluting activities
5. Divest taxpayers’ money from the fossil economy
6. Bring down fossil risk within financial institutions
7. Unlock public finance for climate action
8. Curb short-termism in financial markets
9. Re-diversify our financial system

You can find all the details in our guide “9 financial reforms that Climate Strikers should demand”

Feel free to forward this email to your contacts to let them discover our work.Yours sincerely,

Benoît Lallemand
Secretary General of Finance Watch