A Port Moody councillor wants the city to divest itself of any investment it has in oil companies and stop dealing with banks that support the fossil fuel industry.
And Coun. Rob Vagramov said he hopes other B.C. communities will follow suit.
He's proposing a resolution to the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) for the Municipal Finance Authority of BC (MFABC), which administers municipalities' pooled investments, to do the same and create a socially responsible investment fund to allow those communities to keep their cash out of fossil fuels.
Vagramov, who's scheduled to make his pitch to council for city staff to investigate the mechanics and implications of such an initiative at Tuesday’s meeting, said getting out of fossil fuels is as much about fiscal responsibility as environmental stewardship.
“It’s a financial argument,” he said. “Let’s get our affairs in order before this industry dies.”
The city currently has more than $37 million in guaranteed income certificates at several banks and credit unions, he said.
Vagramov said the reality of ever-dwindling oil supplies, as well as greater international attention to issues such as climate change and the pursuit of alternative energy sources, have doomed the planet’s reliance of fossil fuels. That has been recognized by oil-producing nations such as Norway, which last year announced it would begin divesting its $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund from oil and gas stocks; much of that fund’s money comes from the country’s oil exports.
Vagramov said divesting Port Moody’s investments from fossil fuels would put it in the company of New York, San Francisco, Paris and Melbourne, which have already done so or in the process of getting it done.
Last year, following a similar resolution for divestment at the UBCM, the MFABC put development of a socially responsible fund on hold until demand for such a fund from its member municipalities reached $100 million.
Vagramov said the time is right to move forward.
“To be frank, we’re behind on this for sure,” he said. “It’s imperative we catch up.”
