Banking on Divestment as a Symbolic Strategy: The Promise & Pitfalls of Fossil Fuel Divestment

• In Event: 463 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 18. Social Movements Inside and Against Economic Institutions

Abstract

With growing recognition of global warming and the lack of meaningful climate policy, activists around the world are calling for institutions to divest from the fossil fuel industry (FFI). Fossil fuel divestment (FFD) is predominantly a student-led campaign within the Climate Justice (CJ) Movement, and is supported by a plethora of organizations and environmental groups. It appeals to institutions to halt new investments in the industry and to withdraw their investments from the top 200 fossil fuel companies (FFCs). There are now more than 560 ongoing FFD campaigns across the globe, and it is one of fastest growing divestment campaigns in history.

Few studies examine divestment as a social movement strategy, and since FFD is relatively new, little research analyzes its utility within the CJ movement. This paper addresses the gap in existing literature by mapping the advantages and limitations of divestment to achieve climate justice. FFD benefits include its use of “weapons of the privileged” (especially economic leverage) to stigmatize FFCs and act in solidarity with the communities most affected by climate injustices. Yet, as a reformist approach, divestment does not challenge the treadmill of production, the unsustainable system of capitalism, nor encourage the radical reformulation of existing economic, social, or political systems as called for by the CJ movement.

Author

• Krista Bywater, Muhlenberg College