If you’re an Our Daily Planet reader then you know that the podcast Political Climate is our top pick for understanding the current politics driving climate action (or roadblocking it). But outside of happenings in Congress and across the federal government, the world of green finance is an important component of our collective action to reduce emissions and act on the climate crisis. This topic is exactly what Political Climate co-host Julia Pyper explores in the new mini-series DITCHED which Our Daily Planet is proud to be distributing each Monday.

“What began as, in many ways, a symbolic action to take a stand against fossil fuels has morphed into this sophisticated set of strategies that — as one industry analyst put it — is like an anaconda slowly strangling its prey and really denying the fossil fuel industry the capital it so desperately needs.” — Justin Guay, Sunrise Project

A bit about DITCHED: 

You may have seen the headlines about university endowments ditching their fossil fuel investments. Or perhaps you saw the news that Blackrock, one of the world’s largest financial firms, is getting out of coal and putting climate change at the center of its investment strategy.

Pension funds, insurers, family offices and others are also moving their assets out of the fossil fuel industry and re-assessing the risk these resources present to their bottom line — as well as the planet. 

These are all pieces of a growing, global divestment movement. Which is the focus of a new Political Climate miniseries we’re calling DITCHED: Fossil fuels, money flows and the greening of finance.

There are multiple facets to this trend, and many players.

Even oil and gas companies — the very companies that divestment advocates want financial institutions to stop funding — are ditching their dirtiest fossil fuel projects and investing in lower carbon technologies under investor pressure.

Governments have a major role to play here too. Particularly now as economies suffer amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Will propping up fossil fuels help economies rebuild? Or will these projects become stranded assets, assets that lose all of their value in a volatile market and accelerating clean energy transition?

The DITCHED miniseries from Political Climate aims to shed light on the divestment movement. How it started, where it’s headed, who’s involved, and what this trend means for economies and everyday people. 

I’m your host, Julia Pyper, and in this miniseries I’ll speak to activists, academics, fossil fuel industry experts, investors and other key players in and around the divestment and green finance space.

You can catch all DITCHED episodes on Mondays over the next few weeks on the Political Climate podcast feed (and through Our Daily Planet)– available wherever you listen to podcasts. 

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