Is the new £1 coin the “most secure coin in the world” if it is used to finance fossil fuel energy? Find out what Christian Aid thinks in this guest blog about our joint campaign: The Big Bank Shift.
Keep our new coins clean
The new £1 coin is launched across the UK on Tuesday 28 March. A 12-sided coin, that is being billed as the ‘most secure coin in the world’. But is it helping secure the world we want to see?
Trillions of pounds are still invested in fossil fuels, which is not safe and secure. Rather, fossil fuels drive climate change and lock our sisters and brothers into poverty.
At Christian Aid, we believe that we need to make better choices as a society about where our money goes. We pray for a better, fairer and more secure world, now we need to put our money where our prayers are.
But, there is hope for the new coin. It has the potential to have a cleaner future than its predecessors’ dirty past, and we want those who manage our money – namely the biggest UK banks – to ensure these new coins (and all our money) is used to bring about a world in which all God’s people can flourish.
Right now, banks are financing projects that support the extraction and burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas, all of which produce carbon pollution. But there is a better way. The banks could make the Big Shift away from fossil fuels and into clean energy, investing in the future of our world instead of in the things that are causing damage and destruction.
Christian Aid supporters have already been sharing this message with the biggest high street banks in the UK – HSBC, Lloyds, RBS and Barclays – asking them to come up with a plan to clean up their investments.
And to mark the launch today of the new £1 coin we’ll be increasing the volume of our message by posting pictures of our new £1 coins and sharing messages of hope with these banks on social media. We’ll be asking the banks to keep the future of this coin and all investments clean by making the Big Shift to renewable energy.
If you have social media, join in by posting pictures of your first £1 coin with messages of hope to the banks. We’ll be using the #BigShift and #poundcoin. If you don’t have social media, you can email your messages of hope for the new coins to campaigns@christian-aid.org and we can share them from our social media accounts.
As we draw nearer to the start of the annual general meetings – AGMs – of the banks, it’s essential that we keep the pressure up so we can show the banks’ boards and CEOs just how much momentum the Big Shift has built.
We’re going to keep the conversation going. There will be more opportunities to talk to the banks all through the summer. And we’ve got some exciting plans for how you’ll be able to get involved once you get to the festival, working with you and Greenbelt to build the Common Good.
Keep the conversation going on Facebook.
Keep the conversation going on Twitter.