A “Brief” History of the Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign in the PCUSA

 

by Fred Milligan

 2011 Following the Church of Sweden’s 2009 decision to begin divesting its fossil fuel stocks, U.S. climate activists and university students in West Virginia and elsewhere began to take notice. Bill McKibben’s 350.org group amplified these local actions by launching a nationwide divestment effort.

 2012 McKibben’s 21-stop Do The Math tour spans the country, calling on colleges, religious institutions, and pension funds to liquidate their fossil fuel stocks to stigmatize the industry and accelerate the transition to clean energy. Inspired by his Nov 10 stop in Palo Alto, First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto’s Cool Planet team begins drafting what becomes the first Presbyterian overture calling for categorical divestment from fossil fuels.

 2013 After learning about divestment at the Forward on Climate rally in February, Dan Terpstra and Wil Howie contact Rebecca Barnes of the Presbyterian Hunger Program, who connects them with Abby Mohaupt and the Palo Alto group. They, along with others, refine the draft overture and begin developing the national network that becomes Fossil Free PCUSA.

 2014 Presbytery of Boston and the newly formed Fossil Free PCUSA brought the first divestment overture, with a dozen concurrences, to that year’s General Assembly. It is referred by committee in a hotly contested 30-29 vote to MRTI for consideration through its normal processes of engagement. A minority report was presented to plenary by members of the committee and, after extended debate, was defeated in deference to the original committee referral.

Pictured:(left to right) Advocates for the 2014 Overture: Susan Chamberlain, Sue Smith, Dan Terpstra, Megan Gregory, abby mohaupt, Paul Henschen, Peter Anderson, Rob Mark, Pam McVety, Jacob Bolton

 2016 The Presbytery of San Francisco and FFPCUSA’s overture is brought to that G.A., along with 29 concurring presbyteries, and narrowly clears the committee by a vote of 31 to 25. In a minority report brought by MRTI, an alternative resolution is proposed and adopted by the assembly which defers to the “proven track record of MRTI’s engagement processes.” This is the year that PEC gave First Pres Palo Alto an award for divestment work.

 2018 Hudson River Presbytery and Fossil Free PCUSA (now receiving organizational support from Presbyterian Peace Fellowship) bring an overture to GA.supported by forty (40) presbyteries (the most ever for one overture). Although the G.A. committee approves an amended version of the overture, the plenary votes to replace it with a minority report backed by MRTI and the board of pensions, which eliminates the full divestment option. This alternative resolution is then amended to call for focused engagement and deadlines for action on five specific companies.

 2020 G.A. does not meet due to the COVID pandemic. However, in the lead-up to the 2020 General Assembly, Monmouth Presbytery and Fossil Free PCUSA organize the sponsorship and concurrence of thirty Presbyteries for their simply named “On Fossil Fuel Divestment” overture. Action on this overture is referred to the 2022 assembly.

 2022 MRTI brings five companies to G.A. for divestment, but the divestment overture referred from the 2020 assembly (ENV-07) fails once again to pass. Another small victory comes in the form of ACSWP’s Advice and Counsel Comment (originally submitted to the 2020 GA, along with their “Investing in a Green Future” statement), supporting passage of ENV-07 and the full divestment for which it calls. Their specific language is that passage of full fossil fuel divestment will represent . . . 

 “an ethical statement that as a Christian denomination we understand our calling from Genesis to care for creation. Investing in fossil fuels is an equity issue as well - pollution has a more detrimental effect on vulnerable and marginalized communities.” .  . . They continue, “Believing an economy is possible without fossil fuels can start with divesting from these companies that provide fossil fuels.”

 2022 proves to be a watershed moment in the divestment journey, with PEC authoring its first divestment overture and many previously involved with FFPCUSA stepping back from the struggle. However, neither the PEC-authored overture, sponsored by Susquehanna Valley Presbytery (ENV-08), nor (ENV-07) mentioned above, passed. Instead, the G.A. committee, with assistance from MRTI staff and board members and Board of Pensions Staff, combine elements of each of the divestment overtures into another measure, creating a general expression of concern for the environment and the usage of fossil fuels, saying . . .

  “We must continue towards a way of life divested from fossil fuels both monetarily and in our daily living.”

 2024 PEC had stepped up to leadership of the fossil fuel divestment effort in 2022 and engaged with full force in late 2023, writing and distributing yet another divestment overture for the 226th G.A. in Salt Lake City. With concurrences from seventeen Presbyteries there is once again significant support from across the church for the position being consistently argued since 2014 and echoed in the 2020/22 ACSWP comment cited above.

 However, ACSWP chooses to retreat from its 2020/22 support for divestment continued opposition from some advocacy groups, MRTI’s staff and Board members (who bring divestment recommendations for zero-fossil-fuel companies), the overture passed through the committee without amendment. This, alongside an MRTI report that has been amended, the committee moderators assure, sufficiently to remove any conflicts between the two items of business.

 When the measure comes before the Plenary business session it passes with a sizable majority of commissioners voting in favor. However, upon returning from lunch, the moderator of the Environmental Justice Committee informs the assembly that the overture they had passed in the morning is incommensurate with the version of the MRTI report that had been passed by the committee and that therefore more amendments are needed. During the resulting debate,  the divestment overture passed in the morning session is reconsidered and voted down in favor of an amendment to the MRTI report that adds ten fossil fuel companies for immediate divestment. A similar result to what had been achieved in 2018 except this time the decision was for immediate divestment, circumventing the engagement process. But once again, the push for full fossil fuel divestment is thwarted. This is the GA that called for a redo of the divestment criteria through a task force. The task force’s report in 2026 was passed unanimously and makes it possible for categorical divestment.

 

Pictured: PEC Advocacy Committee Co-facilitator and Overture Advocate, Rev. Fred Milligan and YAAD Drew Hill who had served on the Environmental Justice Committee in a photo taken shortly after the Assembly Plenary had passed the categorical divestment overture, ENV-02 at the 226th GA in 2024.

2026 With the U.S. government’s withdrawal from the UNFCCC Paris Accords and annual COP process, an increasing denigration of climate science, and numerous other measures, the political winds of widespread resistance to climate denialism are beginning to stir in the country. While the Church has, for decades, acknowledged that climate change is real and human-caused, many are convinced that there is an “urgency denialism” embedded in the commitment to the excruciatingly slow engagement process. This is particularly felt among younger members. Beginning in early 2025, the PEC Advocacy Committee, with support from the PEC Steering Committee, had launched the organization of what would soon call itself the Creation Action Network of Presbyterian Young Adults (CANOPY), with the aim of providing this segment of the Church’s membership with a stronger voice in the conversation about how we address matters of Climate and Environmental Justice. The next overture development team included all three strands of the effort to date: Pam McVety from the former FFPCUSA group, Fred Milligan from PEC, and Drew Hill from CANOPY.

 This team began regular consultations with the staff and new leadership of MRTI, the staff and membership of the Advocacy Groups, and members of ACSWP. Although these meetings were congenial, there was no indication of what level of opposition, if any, might be encountered at the assembly. The team continued to hear concerns that any call for sector-level (i.e., categorical) divestment be approached in a way that would be “implementable” by our fiduciaries, who have created many barriers to such implementation.

 Much to the surprise of the divestment advocates, ACSWP once again chooses to recommend approval of the divestment recommendations in the overture. In addition, they offer, on their own volition, a nuanced policy statement in the form of the paper “Intent, Effect, Haste: Ethical Guidance on Fossil Fuels,” which argues for a rapid removal of investments in fossil fuels. In contrast with past G.A.s, none of the Advocacy Groups choose to write a comment, and perhaps most importantly, MRTI testifies before the committee that the divestment overture represents no conflict with their own recommendations.

 With only a couple of minor, friendly amendments, the overture passes on a 53-11 vote and is placed, along with all other items of CLJ business, on the Plenary’s Consent Agenda, where it passes by voice vote in the very first session of business. There is a bit of anxiety in the afternoon before the session begins when the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship issues a call for the MRTI report to be voted down, but after consultation between PEC/CANOPY and PPF leaders, and issuance of a statement of support for passage of the overture by MRTI’s leadership and assurance of PEC/CANOPY’s support for passage of MRTI’s report, the PPF call was withdrawn. And the rest, as the saying goes, history.

 It remains to be seen how quickly our fiduciaries will act. The current process requires MRTI to research and present the list of companies to the next assembly, but the overture timeline offers the possibility of spreading the divestment over four or more years, as required by “fiduciary responsibility.”

 Fortunately, the committee amended the overture to require reporting at the next two assemblies by MRTI and the fiduciaries to indicate the speed of progress.

 We want to especially offer a word of thanks to the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship for all they have contributed to this effort across the years and right through the most recent General Assembly including their presentation of the 2025 “Peaceseeker Award” to PEC for our work on Divestment and initiating the organization of CANOPY.

 

Rev. Fred Milligan, H.R. is the Co-Facilitator for PEC's Advocacy Committee. He has been involved with PEC since 2005 when he served on the General Assembly staff as Associate for Stewardship Education and supported the start-up of the Eco-Stewards program.