"Nobody wants to see their retirement savings being used to wreck the future that they will be retiring into"
New Zealand climate movement group 350 Aotearoa is congratulating KiwiSaver provider Simplicity on its decision to divest from fossil fuels, weapons, tobacco and pornography, saying it’s ‘an outstanding example of people using their power to take action on climate change.’
On 5 June, Simplicity announced that it will be fully divesting all of its funds from fossil fuel companies, along with other unethical industries, after a two-year-long KiwiSaver divestment campaign by 350 Aotearoa.
“Simplicity divesting from fossil fuels aligns with New Zealand’s move away from the industry primarily responsible for climate change,” says 350 Aotearoa executive director Niamh O’Flynn. “Nobody wants to see their retirement savings being used to wreck the future that they will be retiring into.”
In 2016, 350 Aotearoa called on Simplicity to require Vanguard International to add fossil fuels to their list of excluded industries in the new ethical fund specific to New Zealand. Demand for this fund came in the wake of the media scandal which revealed that many mainstream New Zealand funds were invested in munitions, including cluster bombs.
Simplicity’s announcement came a week after 350 Aotearoa released an updated version of their KiwiSaver ranking table, “Does your KiwiSaver Fund Climate Change?”, which had many members calling for Simplicity to commit to full fossil fuel divestment.
350 Aotearoa said a further updated version of the resource will be released in light with Simplicity’s announcement.
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