Ten Commandments of Climate-Responsible Banking

Ten Commandments of Responsible Banking A3 Web (398.57 KB)

1. Find out how much your bank invests in fossil fuels.
Banks use your money as investments. Use Banking on Climate Chaos to see how much of your money is invested in fossil fuels.

2. Write a letter to your bank urging it to end investments in fossil fuels.
Adapt this template.

3. Share Save Children's Lives: Responsible Banking Survival Guide
to spread the word about climate-responsible banking.

4. Take legal action to address your bank’s role in worsening the climate emergency.
Banks may be violating their fiduciary and legal duties to clients by financing new fossil fuel projects. Hope for Children Through Climate Justice provides a full menu of options for legal action.

5. Consider switching your money to a greener bank!
Not letting your money be used to finance fossil fuel projects is one of the most powerful things you can do for the climate. See the Bank Green guide.

6. Learn if your pension is invested in fossil fuels.
Check Make My Money Matter's website for a ranking of large pension providers in the UK. The total carbon emissions of pensions exceeds 330 million tons each year, more than the UK’s entire carbon footprint.

7. Check if your insurance is in fossil fuels.
It is increasingly difficult to insure property affected by climate change, yet insurance companies continue to invest in and underwrite fossil fuel companies. Fossil fuel projects need insurance to go ahead. See What to do if your insurance company is supporting fossil fuels.

8. Consider investing with a values-based investor.
Look for a fund that does not hold stock in fossil fuel companies.

9. Watch videos illustrating how financial decisions influence the climate emergency:
Hope for Children Through Climate Justice, From Despair to Hope, Sorry, This is Lit, Pension Funds, and testimonial from Father Mathieu Jasseron, Ellyanne Wanjiku Chlystun-Githae, and Bill McKibben.