SFSS, Stop Banking with Fossil Funders!
Dear Simon Fraser Student Society,
We, the undersigned Simon Fraser University students, call on the Simon Fraser Student Society, in accordance with its policies and commitment to fossil fuel divestment, to divest itself of its relationship with one of the world’s top fossil fuel financiers, Scotiabank. In using Scotiabank’s financial services, the SFSS is directly contradicting its policies and purported values toward climate justice and Indigenous Reconciliation and its mandate to represent and advocate for its membership’s interests.
Scotiabank is among the top 10 fossil fuel financiers in the world, investing over $194 billion CAD in the industry since Canada’s signing of the Paris Agreement in 2016 despite its own climate commitments and stated support for the agreement’s principles. It currently owns $9 billion of Canada’s oil and gas companies and is a lead financier of the Trans Mountain Pipeline, a project violating the principles of Free, Prior and Informed Consent under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and putting the entire Burnaby Mountain community at extreme risk.
Fossil fuel projects like TMX, in which the SFSS claims to oppose, rely on the support of banks like Scotiabank to remain viable and continue to set us on a path toward a deeply unjust and unlivable future. Their funding of fossil fuels directly threatens students’ livelihoods, particularly those already facing systemic oppression due to the inequitable distribution of climate impacts and environmental pollution. By associating with Scotiabank, the SFSS is demonstrating an inconsistency in upholding its membership’s values.
That is why we call on the SFSS to:
Stop Banking with Fossil Funders
Create a committee with representation from SFU350 and SFPIRG to investigate transferring investments and deposits to Vancity and report back to Council by August 2023.
Demand Divestment
Call on Scotiabank to: a) immediately stop financing fossil fuel expansion and exploration b) immediately stop financing projects without Free, Prior and Informed Consent of Indigenous Peoples and c) phase out financing of all fossil fuel extraction, transportation and processing by 2040, halving by 2030.
Communicate demands to Scotiabank through a meeting, letter, and public statement.
Reinvest in a Better Future
Open a savings account at Vancity Community Investment Bank (VCIB) as a threat to Scotiabank, following the precedent set by SFU and their $10 million investment in VCIB.
The SFSS is sending the message that it is complicit with Scotiabank’s practices. It can demonstrate, however, that its membership is ready to take its business elsewhere if Scotiabank is not willing to divest.
Stop Banking with Fossil Funders
The fossil fuel industry remains viable due to the support it receives from the banks.
We are living in the midst of a climate and ecological emergency that is ravaging the world and disproportionally harming its most vulnerable people. Poverty, food shortages, forced displacement, armed conflict, and other disasters have all been exacerbated due to a crisis that the fossil fuel industry is the primary driver of. The industry is also one the largest perpetrators of racial and colonial violence, having a long history of polluting the air, land, and water of Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC), forcing Indigenous peoples from their lands, and financing the colonial police force.
The banks rely on the loyalty of youth to remain profitable. In losing thousands of young, potentially lifelong customers, a strong reputational risk is posed to the banks by the SFSS, sending the message that young people do not accept their money being used to finance further destruction of our future. It is clear the banks are concerned about their reputation from the hundreds of millions of dollars they invest annually in philanthropy and sponsorships trying to win the public’s support. Threatening the banks by switching to a fossil-free financial institution like Vancity removes them as a pillar of power of the fossil fuel industry.
Demand Divestment
Scotiabank finances fossil fuel exploration, extraction, processing, and transportation, and does so without the Free, Prior, and Informed consent of Indigenous peoples. Despite their net zero pledges, banks in Canada increased their fossil fuel funding by 70% from 2020 to 2021 while funding for the tar sands, a sector led by Canadian banks, increased by 51%. These investments not only undermine their commitments to emissions reductions, sustainability, and reconciliation but jeopardize their own financial sustainability. Transitioning to a low-carbon economy as they purportedly aim to do will risk fossil fuel companies being unable to pay around 23% of their loans back to the banks.
Reinvest in a Better Future
The university has already begun banking with a fossil-free institution by opening a $10 million Impact GIC with VCIB. Now it’s the SFSS’ turn. The student union has banked with Vancity Credit Union in the past, an institution strongly committed to advancing social and environmental impact and investing in the local community. Their subsidiary, Vancity Community Investment Bank is a certified B Corp Schedule 1 bank offering financial and investment products to non-profits, social enterprises, and purpose-driven businesses across the nation. Opening a savings account with VCIB is an opportunity to use the student funds held in reserve to address some of the many issues directly impacting students today - issues like affordable housing and food security - instead of supporting the corporations creating these issues themselves. It also sends a clear message to Scotiabank that their practices will not be tolerated by today’s youth.
The SFSS prohibits fossil fuel investment and states they’re committed to full divestment from fossil fuels but divestment is not complete without addressing the role the banks play in maintaining the fossil fuel industry’s viability. By banking with a fossil funder, the SFSS is helping support an industry that is polluting the air we breathe, water we drink, and is one of the greatest contributors to the climate crisis, with the consequences of all these factors disproportionately affecting our most vulnerable communities, including Black, Indigenous, People of Colour, and other marginalized groups. The SFSS cannot claim to be committed to holding institutions “accountable when it comes to climate action, decolonization, and reconciliation” when it is partnering with one that is harming students and making our planet unliveable.
It is the SFSS’s responsibility to protect students’ interests but is failing to do so by banking with a fossil funder.
In taking a strong stance on this issue, however, the SFSS can set an important precedent not only for fellow student unions but for other diverse organizations across the country, amplifying the impact even further. With enough mobilization, the banks will be forced to divest. In the words of former VP Equity and Sustainability, Marie Haddad, “Change doesn’t take time, it takes pressure.”
We request a response by Wednesday, March 8th, 2023. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
