by Shane Sody

The Adelaide Park Lands Association is a non-profit incorporated body. For decades, the Association has been a customer of the ANZ bank.

Recent news coverage has made it plain that all of Australia's big four banks are still lending massive amounts to the fossil fuel industry. Environmental advocacy group Market Forces detailed how the four banks have advanced $61 billion in lending to the fossil fuel industry, just since the signing of the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015.

Here's how that report was covered by the ABC: https://amp.abc.net.au/article/104103014

"Market Forces" singled out ANZ as by far the biggest financial supporter of the fossil fuel industry, with more than $19 billion loaned to the fossil fuel industry, just since 2016. https://www.marketforces.org.au/campaigns/banks/anz/

These investments by the ANZ and other major banks are enabling not just the status quo, but also vast expansions of coal, oil and gas extraction, worsening Australia’s contribution to the deteriorating climate. These investments are inconsistent with the environmental imperative to urgently reduce greenhouse gas emissions throughout the world.

Why should we take a stand?

The Constitution of the Adelaide Park Lands Association includes our “Vision” and ‘Objectives” which are concerned solely with the Adelaide Park Lands – not any wider environmental considerations.

Therefore it could be argued that APA should not overreach or campaign on any issues except those directly related to the Adelaide Park Lands. However, the APA Constitution also gives the Association’s managing Committee a simple broad discretion to deposit funds into any bank account that the Committee chooses:

“All monies of the Association shall be paid into the account of the Association at such financial institution as the Committee may from time to time direct.”

“Market Forces” publishes a table detailing which banks and credits unions still fund fossil fuels and which ones do not. https://www.marketforces.org.au/info/compare-bank-table/

Recommended options include Bendigo and Adelaide Bank; and Credit Union SA, neither of which lend to fossil fuel companies.

After some debate, at recent meetings in August and September, the APA managing committee determined, unanimously:

• to switch our banking away from ANZ; and

• to open corresponding new accounts at Credit Union SA to replace our current three ANZ accounts.

The switch will take a few weeks to arrange, as signatories need to be accredited at Credit Union SA, and our accounting practices changed.

Some supporters might object

There is still a significant minority of the world’s population that rejects climate science. https://www.ipsos.com/en/36-percent-worlds-population-still-dispute-human-origins-climate-change

Nevertheless, the APA managing committee was of the view that a large majority of those who value the Adelaide Park Lands would also be supportive of actions to minimise climate risk; and take action to halt further expansion of fossil fuel extraction.

We will be advising both the ANZ Bank, and Credit Union SA of the reasons for our banking switch; that we are putting our environmental concern for your Adelaide Park Lands into a global context.

If you’d like to read more about what you can do, for a healthy planet, see the United Nations guide: Ten Actions for a Healthy Planet: https://www.un.org/en/actnow/ten-actions

The author of this article, Shane Sody, is the President of the Adelaide Park Lands Association and the editor of the semi-monthly newsletter, "Open Green Public".

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https://adelaideparklands.m-pages.com/YWRrGW/adelaide-park-lands-assn-mailing