Three ways you can stop your money funding the fossil fuel industry without having to change how you live
You may have seen the recent IPCC report and have fallen in to a pit of climate related despair, just like me. Honestly, I am struggling to sleep so I need to do something.
Back in 2019, I made the decision to stop using acrylic in my work because it is a plastic, and just like all other plastics it is made from fossil fuels. However, a small business like mine deciding to move away from virgin plastic is not going to cause the collapse of the industry.
Did you know that "the world's sixty biggest banks have funnelled nearly £2.8 trillion in to fossil fuels since the Paris Agreement...was struck in 2015?" (Source: Big Issue)
HSBC, Barclays and Natwest are some of the biggest offenders and what's worse is they are using your money to invest!
You can use this tool to check whether your bank invests in fossil fuels and make the switch to a better bank today.
As a member of Nationwide Building Society (one of the few banks that doesn't invest in fossil fuels) I can help you switch using the refer a friend scheme. It is SO EASY, they do everything for you including switching over your direct debits and what's better is that we both get £100 for doing the switch! Once you're all nice and switched over, you can then use the refer a friend scheme to switch a maximum of five people and get yourself £100 each time!
If you would like me to refer you for the switch to Nationwide, pop me an email to LorelaiLeQuilliec@gmail.com and I will get it started. I will need some details from you, so if you're not comfortable doing that, see if you can find a friend or family member who is with Nationwide and can refer you themselves.
Another easy way that you can take your money out of the fossil fuel industry and put it in to renewable energy sources, is to switch your energy provider. You really should be switching your provider every couple of years to get the best deal any way.
You can use this website to help you compare tariffs for green energy providers or you can use my referral code for Bulb:
Bulb comes out top of the green energy providers with 100% green electricity from renewable sources and 10% green gas (with carbon offsetting for the other 90%, making it carbon neutral)
Switching is so easy, they do all the legwork for you, you just need to click the link above and get started. The best bit, is that when you switch we both receive £50 credit off our bills!
I mentioned that there would be three ways to stop funding the fossil fuel industry, the third way is more about putting more money in to renewable sources. Society has us believing that investing is just for old, white men which means that the things they invest in (like fossil fuels) keep going. I am going to investigate investing in renewables and come back here to explain my findings.
In the mean time, get those two switches in motion and take your money out of fossil fuels!