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Money talks. That’s why climate-change movement leaders like 350.org devote so much effort to divestment campaigns.

If people who control large financial portfolios stop investing in fossil fuel companies and pull money out of polluting organizations, those corporations will eventually feel the pressure and shift their businesses away from practices that harm the environment.

Pension funds and government portfolios are the big prizes that divestment campaigns target. Those sorts of massive pots of money are so large that a single withdrawal can create sizable waves throughout an entire industry.

There’s a sign one such wave might be on the horizon moving out of Vancouver.

City councillors today (January 21) unanimously voted to explore a complete divestment from fossil fuels.

“This is not just about taking a stand; investments in oil and gas are becoming increasingly risky assets to hold,” Green councillor Adrian Carr, who drafted the motion, said quoted in a media release. “We now have both a moral and fiduciary responsibility to divest from them. It would be absurd for us to be investing in industries which contribute to the climate crisis we are working so hard to avert.

“Divestment is an important piece of that work because it brings public awareness to the issue and tangibly affects change by moving funds from the companies that are profiting from harming our planet to companies such as in the renewable energy sector that are part of the solution,” Carr added.

The motion asks city staff to draft a plan consisting of “options and timelines for how the City could fully divest from fossil fuels”.

It also says staff should consider the creation of a “fossil free fund” that other municipalities could invest in.

Last month, the Straight reported that the UBC board of governors voted to review how the university could "move forward with full divestment of its main endowment pool ($1.71B) from fossil fuels".

Today Carr celebrated council's support for her motion with a message emphasizing the urgency of divestment actions.

“The most recent reports out of the UN call for reductions in global emissions of 7.6 percent every year for the next decade in order to hold to the necessary maximum of 1.5°C rise in global temperature,” she notes in the release.

“We are in a crisis. We need to be doing everything we can as quickly as we can in order to protect our planet and the next generation.”