Issue #4: Your dollar is your vote
Know where your money is going + have your say on the 2022 Budget!
Kia ora, and happy 2022!
We hope you had a lovely summer break and are excited to take action this year 🚀
For those of you who have been with us since we started in November last year, you might notice that this email looks a little different. We’re trying out a writing platform called Substack, which makes it easier for us to share a friendly-looking homepage and an archive of our past emails. Hope you like it!
The most clicked link from last week’s issue was a petition calling for no new coal mines in Aotearoa, which is now at 6151 signatures thanks to your mahi!
We thought we'd kick this year off with a bit of a housekeeping theme - budgets and personal finances! *enthusiastic clapping*
Where we put our money gives power to those institutions - influencing policy, regulations, and ultimately our endangered climate future. We’ve compiled a shortlist of actions this week to shift our collective power (i.e. money) away from fossil fuel investments, towards the change we want to see. Let’s start the year knowing that our money is doing good for our planet.
What can you do today?
🐝 5 minutes: Invest impactfully + keep our public transport on track!
Impact investing: Collectively, we have over $86b in KiwiSaver funds - a mind-boggling amount of collective power! Sign this petition to tell NZ fund managers that we want to see more impact investing with our money, for positive social and environmental change.
KiwiSaver: Are your retirement savings funding fossil fuels? Check to see what companies your Kiwisaver is invested in, and find a fund that fits your values using Mindful Money’s guide. Switching takes less than 5 minutes, promise!
One example of a great ethical KiwiSaver fund is Pathfinder, who recently partnered with 350 Aotearoa to donate a part of their fees to ending fossil fuels!
(not finance-related but) Trains: KiwiRail has announced the end of same-day intercity services between Auckland/Wellington and Picton/Christchurch. This signals the end of most of Aotearoa New Zealand's national passenger rail network after more than 100 years of service just when we need to be ramping up our public transport the most. Sign here to save our intercity rail services.
🐇 15 minutes: Save your savings!
Banks: Major banks like ANZ, ASB, BNZ, and Westpac are keeping the fossil fuel industry afloat, by lending and investing billions of our savings into coal, oil and gas companies that have knowingly caused the climate crisis. Check out 350 Aotearoa’s Fossil Free Banks page to see how your bank scores, sign their petition, and consider switching to a fossil free bank if you haven’t already.
If you do choose to switch, hype up your new bank by letting them know why you switched (“because u fossil free 💚”).
And if like a bit of spice, tell your old bank why you’re leaving (“coz u funding the apocalypse BYEEE FELICIA 👋🏽”).
Shares: How are those sharesies going? Mindful Money is an NZ charity that researches exactly what corporations (including fossil fuel companies) the big investment funds are buying into. Why not take 10 mins to check that your investments are funding things that align with your values?
💃🏽 30 minutes to 1 hour: Budget time for that Budget time of year!
The Budget: The government’s Budget Policy Statement has been released, which informs how Aotearoa’s money will be spent in coming years. Ensuring that we are allocating enough funding for a just transition now will be critical for our climate future. We have until Friday to give feedback on it via a submission, and we’ve made a submission guide that makes it easy for you to do so.
There are also 5 and 15 minute options, where you can just copy & paste our template to add your voice!
That’s all for today, folks 👋🏽 Thanks for taking action. Enjoy this clip of Merle, the extremely aquatic dog, cooling off this hot (😬) summer. Hope you’ve all been getting some good swims in too!
See you next week,
Dhanya, Emily, and Jenny from the Climate Club
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