Sustainable Investment Means Energy Independence From Fossil Fuels

Abstract

CalPERS is only one of many investors who face major challenges in finding and evaluating truly sustainable investments. Cheap fossil fuels create a strong monetary bias against stable secure steady-state investment in basic needs, while aggravating the climate change which makes sustainability a key goal. Cheap fossil fuels also offer unprecedented size and power to large, hierarchical, centralized, and authoritarian organizations that are ill-suited to human nature and historical culture. Some innovative perspectives, approaches and criteria for success in meeting these challenges are described and discussed, along with several specific examples.

Keywords: sustainable investment, fossil fuel, steady-state