Ecological Pope: behind the holy divestment

[Inkriql]

l 2019 says goodbye as the year where there were major capital withdrawals throughout history since the creation of the powerful oil, gas and coal industry. The dimension is unimaginable. Eight times the world's gross domestic product (GDP). That is 11 billion dollars in the first six months of this year. That is the reverse of fossil material extractive companies according to the report released by the 350.org Movement. This organization said the divestment "jumped from $ 52 billion in 2014 to more than $ 11 trillion today, a surprising increase of 2,000 percent."

The Catholic Church, the oldest and largest organization of people in the West, tops the list of institutions for the divestment of the most polluting industry of "the common house," as Pope Francis says, considered today for the global environmental movement (believers) or not), as the maximum reference.

It was his doctrine, the encyclical Laudato Yes, that led to 160 Church institutions committing to divestment, and breaking financial ties with the oil, coal and gas companies, where a portion of their investments resided.

At the top of the list. The divestment of fossil fuels reduces carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, the main cause of the greenhouse effect and global warming. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, the average temperature of the earth has increased 0.8 ° C in the twentieth century compared to the nineteenth century. And if CO2 emissions continue as before, in the 21st century this temperature will increase from an additional 1.1 to 6.4 ° C. This increase in temperature would far exceed the level of warming that scientists consider safe for life on Earth.

"We encourage ecclesiastical organizations to make a first analysis of their investments and if they identify directly or indirectly in this type of companies, we invite them to withdraw their money from this industry, it is a way to combat climate change from the root ", he told NEWS, Fabián Campos, responsible for America of the World Catholic Movement for Climate.

The Church's divestment announcements began in 2016 and along with other religions, in fact the pioneers were the American Protestants: "they constitute the largest number of institutions that have divested," Campos added.

Petroleum

Papal pressure The Jesuit pontiff, being the major critic of the oil companies, managed to gather them in the Vatican twice. The last one in June of this year.

He gathered them at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and Social Sciences, which is directed by another Argentine, Monsignor Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo. The Pope was surrounded by the photo of the CEO of Royal Dutch Shell, Total, Repsol, Sinopec, Conoco, Phillips and Chevron. As he had done last year also in the Clementine Hall, where Bergoglio received Darren Woods, chief executive of ExxonMobil; Claudio Descalzi, head of the Italian ENI; Bob Dudley of British Petrolium; Eldar Saetre, executive president of Norwegian oil company Equinor (formerly Statoil); Vicki Hollub of Occidental Petroleum; and Larry Fink of BlackRock, asking for the "radical energy transition."

Francisco insisted that "move away from carbon to save the planet" because "the human family is threatened. And he apologized for pointing out that" it is irresponsible "to continue on the same path" to destroy the world for our children and grandchildren " .

In September 2019, a Goldman Sachs report points to Repsol as the international oil company that invests most in renewable energy, 17% of its total investment, while ExxonMovil or Chevron does not reach 1%.

Bergoglio's oil enemies make up the North American church. That is why Monsignor Sánchez Sorondo accused the Koch brothers (one of them deceased months ago), the second private company in the United States and one of the first world fortunes, to operate so that President Donald Trump makes fun of the Paris Agreement . According to Sorondo, they funded Catholic groups to attack the Pope through their network of foundations and think tanks "saying that the Pope has no authority to talk about science."

The Ecuadorian Fabian Campos, of the Catholic Movement for Climate, acknowledged to this media, "the lack of adherence to the divestment of the Catholic Church in America." While the sociologist and climate change specialist, Juan Pablo Olsson, said that the country of the Pontiff "is the most backward in the region and the world in the objectives of transition to renewable energy, like Latin America that has an average of 95 % dependent on fossil fuels ".