What is ActionAid’s Fund Our Future campaign, and how can I get involved?
We are in a climate emergency. Industrial agriculture and fossil fuel projects funded by private and public finance are driving harmful emissions and local rights violations. These emissions, in turn, fuel climate-change-induced emergencies across the world.
Fund Our Future is a climate campaign involving more than 70 ActionAid offices and hundreds of allies. We are calling for investors to stop piling money into fossil fuels and industrial agriculture in the Global South. We are asking for renewable energy investments and public and private support for agroecological solutions that promote food security and social justice. The escalating climate crisis is spreading further. We have a chance to join together to demand action for climate justice. Let’s stop funding destruction now. And begin to fund our future.
Why is ActionAid focusing on banks?
The fossil fuels industry is the biggest contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, which are fueling the climate crisis. Industrial agriculture comes in second place. Banks are providing both industrial agriculture and fossil fuel companies with the funds they need to keep destroying the climate. Phasing out fossil fuels and transitioning to clean energy, together with moving away from harmful large-scale industrial agriculture, is absolutely necessary in order to avoid the worst of the coming climate crisis. And taking away these industries’ funding is a crucial way to get at the problem.
What is the solution to fossil fuels?
ActionAid demands a just transition to reach 100% renewable energy globally, without harm to communities from land grabs or unsafe working conditions. To ensure that the shift to greener pathways avoids harming communities, they must be guided by four key principles of just transitions: address – and not exacerbate – inequality; transform systems to work for people, nature, and the climate; ensure inclusiveness and participation; and develop comprehensive frameworks to support communities to make those shifts. We must end financing for fossil fuels now to comply with the Paris Agreement and limit global warming to +1.5°C.
What is the alternative to industrial farming?
It’s easy to forget that smallholder farmers produce around a third of the world’s food and must have their voices heard. One sustainable alternative is agroecology. Agroecology is a way of farming and managing crops, livestock, forests, and fisheries that are viable, long-lasting, and resilient to climate change and offers other environmental, social, and cultural benefits such as addressing food and water scarcity, gender inequality, and poverty.
Agroecology is a powerful and innovative solution to stop the climate crisis and strengthen the resilience of food systems to climate change impacts. Agroecological approaches reduce land degradation and are ultimately restorative to the environment. Agroecology practices boost soil health. By reducing the use of synthetic fertilizers and harmful pesticides and transitioning to compost, soil health is largely improved. This results in increased resilience to drought, and farmers benefit from increases in production as well as increases in their profits. With increased yields and profits, farmers can experience greater improvements in food security.
A movement to divest from industrial agriculture and invest in agroecological practices could help women and girls access their economic rights, reduce emissions on a huge scale, and build a sustainable planet.
What can we do?
The escalating climate crisis is spreading far and wide. And the world’s financing is flowing in the wrong direction. The people must tell banks to divest from the problems. We have solutions in renewables and agroecology that can turn the tide. We must support women and young people who are leading the call for a better future. Read our report, sign the petition, and join us! We have a chance to demand action for climate justice. Stop banks funding the climate crisis now. Let’s stop funding destruction. And begin to fund our future.
