urgewald

About urgewald

Without loans, insurance and other investments, no nuclear power plant, no dam and no pipeline will be built. Mining companies and arms manufacturers also constantly need fresh money. urgewald makes the financing of environmental destruction and human rights violations visible and names those responsible.

"Follow the Money" is the strategic approach of our campaigns against investors and other financiers. It is aimed precisely at the Achilles' heel of these projects: the money.

Sustainable investing is no longer just a matter of conscience; it has long been a matter of our future, in an existential sense.

Banks play a central role in the realization of projects that damage the climate and violate human rights. Without their money, many of these projects would not be able to be implemented in the first place.

The Paris climate targets require a rapid phase-out of coal, but many banks and investors are still marching in the opposite direction. This is particularly true of German banks. They like to profess their concern for the climate, but are not prepared to end their financial services for customers from the coal industry.

If we still want to achieve the Paris climate target and avert a climate catastrophe, companies that continue to rely on coal - the most CO2-intensive form of power generation - must be excluded from all financing immediately.

The financial industry must also finally listen to the alarm calls of the scientific community (e.g. IPCC special report) and act to limit the consequences of the climate catastrophe.
What matters now is that the pressure continues to grow not to make money with dirty business.

In 2023, the Stiftung Zukunft jetzt! is supporting the GCEL and GOGEL, the Finance Campaigner School and the Transformation Campaign. urgewald's message in all campaigns is: No more money must flow into the fossil fuel economy - and we can all contribute to this.

Follow the Money: urgewald's commitment to the environment and human rights

"It is not an investment if it is destroying our planet." So said the winner of the Alternative Nobel Prize, Dr. Vandana Shiva. The environmental and human rights organization urgewald agrees - and is therefore pursuing a central question: How do you turn off the money tap for climate killers?

Many people feel powerless in the face of the climate crisis. Whether it's shopping at the organic food store, a photovoltaic system on the roof or balcony - none of this is enough if the big players don't get involved. Because the fight against climate change is a race against time: according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), global warming is progressing faster than previously expected. We are already experiencing droughts, floods and forest fires as harbingers of what could still be in store for us.

Although it has long been obvious what needs to happen, the political and economic framework conditions invite us to "business as usual". Coal, oil and gas companies continue to expand unchecked. They are tapping into new reserves all over the world, even in highly sensitive ecosystems such as the Arctic or the deep sea - and are exacerbating the climate crisis further and further. For urgewald, one thing is clear: we cannot wait for politicians. The fossil fuel companies will continue as long as possible.

Or until nobody finances their plans anymore. This is precisely the lever that urgewald is successfully using: Because behind every company that develops new fossil energy sources are banks, investors and insurers, without whom these plans could not be realized.

But how do you get global investors to divest from fossil fuel companies? How do you convince insurance companies to stop insuring fossil fuel projects? urgewald's success is based on the power of good arguments, the quality of its research, a particular tenacity - and the belief that campaigns can be won.

Example Norway
urgewald initiated the biggest, ground-breaking coal divestment decision to date: the extensive coal phase-out by the Norwegian Pension Fund in 2015. It is one of the largest pension funds in the world and was one of the top ten investors in the global coal industry at the time. Norway's divestment decision was an important step that triggered a domino effect in the financial sector: In the same year, the Allianz insurance group also announced a significant reduction in its investments in companies in the coal industry. Allianz referred to the years of work by various environmental organizations, including urgewald, as the driving force behind the decision.

The "exit lists"
These successes inspired urgewald to systematically expand and publish knowledge about the coal industry. This idea gave rise to the Global Coal Exit List (GCEL) database. It was published for the first time in 2017. The Global Oil and Gas Exit List (GOGEL) followed in 2021. Both were developed to make the fossil plans and activities of companies visible to both the financial world and the public - and clearly show who is still expanding.

urgewald's approach works. The two databases show the financial sector a concrete way out of its fossil fuel investments. Allianz was followed by the major insurance companies AXA and Generali and the French bank UniCredit. At the end of 2021, Commerzbank became the first major conventional bank in Germany to commit to ending investments in coal and defined initial exclusion criteria for oil & gas. It and many other investors take the urgewald data into account when tightening their criteria.

Global impact
A groundbreaking event in the first half of 2023 was the inclusion of the urgewald databases in the "Global Financial Stability Report" of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The impact of urgewald's databases unfolds over time: the more investors exclude fossil fuel companies from financing, the more difficult it becomes for companies to obtain capital on favorable terms. Through urgewald's financial research and cooperation with international NGO partners, the reputational risk for companies and their financiers grows - and gradually the flow of capital for fossil fuel companies can dry up.

This long-term perspective entails a high level of responsibility - because only if urgewald continues to provide data in the future can it have an impact. urgewald can only fulfill this obligation if funding is secured. Thanks to the support of the Zukunftjetzt! foundation, urgewald will be able to continue its work on the databases and campaigns in 2023.

A global network
In the fight against the climate crisis, urgewald also relies on cooperation and strong campaigns. International networking carries urgewald's data around the world - and enables joint campaigns with partner organizations. The campaigners ensure that the researched facts on climate killers and the voices of those affected are also heard at shareholder meetings, in boardrooms and in politics.

"Spread the Word" - using finance campaigns as leverage
With the Finance Campaigner School, urgewald shares campaigning experience and in-depth financial knowledge with activists from all over the world - promoting exchange and cooperation. The Finance Campaigner School supports the global movement and helps to increase pressure on the financial world.

With its transformation campaign , urgewald is committed to promoting sustainable investments among foundations, associations and small and medium-sized investors.

urgewald's databases in detail

Facts about the Global Coal Exit List GCEL
The companies listed in the GCEL represent 90 % of global thermal coal production and 90 % of global coal-fired power plant capacity. Investors managing USD 16 trillion in assets already use the GCEL criteria to exclude coal companies from their portfolios. GCEL is the first database to provide forward-looking data: The Expansion Criterion. It shows which companies are expanding their coal mining activities, developing new coal-fired power plants or building other coal-related infrastructure.

Facts about the Global Oil and Gas Exit List GOGEL
GOGEL is the world's first public, comprehensive database of companies in the oil and gas industry. Since its first update in November 2022, it has included over 900 companies, covering 95% of global oil and gas production. Around 200 representatives from around 100 different financial institutions now (2023) use the GOGEL data. The database shows by how much BBOE (trillion barrels of oil equivalent) the expansion plans of individual companies exceed the 1.5 °C target.