Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment approves 2025 Divestment/Proscription List
As directed by the General Assembly, the committee also identifies for divestment 10 top fossil fuel companies with ‘no promising engagement’
LOUISVILLE — The Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) has approved its 2025 Divestment/Proscription List and, as required by the 226th General Assembly (2024), identified “the top ten fossil fuel companies that derive the majority of their profits from the exploration, development and production of fossil fuels and with which there will be no promising engagement, and immediately divest from those companies.”
Katie Carter, Director of Faith-Based Investing and Shareholder Engagement in the Interim Unified Agency, said the committee identified the top 10 fossil fuel companies using market capitalization as its basis. In addition to that list, MRTI included on its most recent divestment/proscription list the countries with sovereign debt that have prolonged military occupations. That action came about following this vote of the 226th General Assembly. According to the resolution’s rationale, investments in Israel, Morocco and Turkey are affected. The 2025 Divestment/Proscription List also includes a new appendix outlining the policy history for each divestment recommendation with links to the past General Assembly actions and directives. MRTI hopes providing the policy history will equip Presbyterians to better understand both the context and process for how each divestment policy was created and has evolved over time.
During last year’s Assembly, commissioners ultimately decided against complete divestment from the fossil fuel industry. After voting in favor of it earlier in the day in the form of ENV-02, commissioners later reversed course, going with an amended version of ENV-06. The approved directive continues the corporate engagement process MRTI has employed for many years but with the added directive for divestment from the top 10 fossil fuel companies that do not show promising engagement.
The Rev. Marcella Glass, MRTI chair, offered this statement: “MRTI takes seriously the urgency of the climate crisis and follows denominational policies outlining engagement with selective divestment as the best way to bring about corporate change.”
“While the amended ENV-06 was at odds with previous GA policy, MRTI responded faithfully to its directive. MRTI identified companies with the largest market capitalization as most appropriately meeting the spirit of the directive, leaving off the list of companies already previously identified for selective divestment, as well as ConocoPhillips, where there is promising engagement already happening.”
“Per the 2018 and 2022 General Assemblies, MRTI will continue engagement with large greenhouse gas emitters and will evaluate them using the MRTI Guideline Metrics, potentially bringing additional divestment recommendations in 2026.”
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