Something is Missing from Ottawa’s Climate Change Management Plan

This week the City of Ottawa posted its proposed new Climate Change Management Plan. This plan is an important step in a necessary transition to a sustainable future. But it has a hole. Our city should follow the lead of the 22 other cities that have committed to moving city investments out of oil, coal and natural gas (fossil fuel) companies (http://gofossilfree.org/commitments/).

Climate change is caused by burning fossil fuels. The aim of fossil fuel divestment is to take the financial incentive out of fossil fuels, to spur development of a green energy economy. Having both a climate change management plan and investments in fossil fuel companies is about as reasonable as having both a plan to fight cancer and investments in tobacco companies.

Mayor Bates of Berkeley, California, puts it simply: “We don’t invest in guns or tobacco, and we don’t invest in oil, either.” Without a commitment to fossil fuel divestment, the city’s Climate Change Management Plan rings a little hollow.