Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment approves 2027 GA Divestment/Proscription List

LOUISVILLE — The Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) has approved the 2027 General Assembly Divestment/Proscription List, adding Duke Energy, ConocoPhillips, GE Aerospace and Palantir Technologies to the companies in which the church’s investing agencies should not invest.

The committee’s vote follows action by commissioners to the 227^th General Assembly (2026), which approved FIN-07, which speaks directly to MRTI’s engagement with GE Aerospace and Palantir Technologies. “This process of engagement has, in the case of two companies, produced no substantive change and, in the judgment of this assembly, is likely not to in the future,” the resolution in FIN-07 states.

Under GA policy, “the final step is to recommend divestment from companies where engagement is not resulting in any change,” the resolution says. “Therefore, in accordance with the actions of prior assemblies, we direct that GE Aerospace and Palantir Technologies Inc. be placed on the General Assembly Divestment/Proscription List until such time as they have ceased profiting from such pursuits, as defined by prior General Assembly actions.”

A third company, GE Vernova, “adequately responded to MRTI’s engagement with dialogues and reporting and demonstrated a clear due diligence process to limit its exposure to human rights harms,” according to the overture’s executive summary. “However, GE Aerospace and Palantir Technologies Inc.’s response to MRTI’s engagement were nonexistent or insufficient.”

Duke Energy and ConocoPhillips were added to the 2027 Divestment/Proscription List following approval of CLJ-01 during the recent assembly. That report, MRTI’s response to the 226^th General Assembly directive on environmental policy, also received approval as part of the assembly’s consent agenda.

Commissioners approved a resolution that says in part, “The Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment in the 2024 and 2025 proxy seasons engaged and evaluated companies using its Guideline Metrics in an effort to improve company governance, strategy, implementation, transparency and disclosure, and public policy with respect to climate change. In the cases of ConocoPhillips and Duke Energy, this process of engagement produced no substantial change or movement towards compliance with the General Assembly’s criteria established by the 222^nd General Assembly (2016), and in the judgment of this Assembly, is not likely to do so in the near future.”

Image

In the executive summary, the MRTI committee says it believes “faithfully caring for God’s Creation is essential to our Christian vocation, and the urgent threat of climate change to God’s Creation is well established.” It said MRTI’s shareholder engagement work “would not be possible without the collaboration and cooperation of the two primary investing agencies that oversee the investments of the denomination: the Board of Pensions and the Presbyterian Foundation.”

“For decades, MRTI has balanced the social witness policy of the denomination with the fiduciary duty of the investing agencies to provide socially responsible guidelines that can be implemented,” the executive summary states. “MRTI is unique in the faith-based investing space in that it bridges the financial and ‘mission’ arms of the church by bringing together representatives from the investing agencies and the advisory and advocacy committees. Most denominations keep their investment and mission/advocacy arms separate, with the investing agencies handling shareholder engagement.”

The list now goes to the Boards of The Board of Pensions and the Presbyterian Foundation for consideration. MRTI encourages all General Assembly-related agencies, mid councils, institutions, and members of the Presbyterian Church to align their investments with the list.