What’s in Your 401(k)? Polluters Driving Climate Change
The majority of retirement plans include fossil fuel investments. If you’re worried about the carbon footprint of your savings, here’s a step-by-step guide to shrinking it.
First, the bad news: Most 401(k) and other employer-sponsored retirement plans, as well as individual retirement accounts (IRAs), have at least some money invested in companies that contribute to fossil fuel extraction, deforestation or both. So the money sitting in your retirement kitty right now is very likely bound up with the climate crisis in some way.
“There’s 100 million people in the United States with $10 trillion in assets that have no idea that they’re investing in their own destruction,” estimates Andrew Behar, chief executive officer of the shareholder advocacy group As You Sow. “It’s been completely hidden.”