The struggle to eliminate racism requires an ongoing effort of every individual, organization, and community.

While racism is not new, the recent worldwide protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement heightened society’s awareness of race-related inequality. In recognition of the urgency and importance of tackling this challenge, we at Climate Finance Advisors (CFA) commit to do our part to fight systemic racism.

CFA is driven by our mission to accelerate sustainable, climate-aligned investment to the benefit of society, the economy, and the global environment. We recognize that to be truly sustainable, efforts to address climate change, including those focused on driving climate-aligned investment, must lead to greater equity and justice. Climate justice depends on racial justice, in the United States and around the world.

How we invest matters. In the United States and elsewhere, the financial sector has historically played a significant role in promoting the structures of systemic racism that perpetuate climate, environmental, and other social injustices. In addressing the climate challenge, the financial sector and policymakers must recognize the disproportionate exposure to climate change and other environmental hazards that Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color have faced historically, and must recognize the disproportionate lack of access to affordable finance to invest in their resilience that these same communities face. We believe this must not only change but be reversed, and that without such change the financial sector, and the economic actors it serves, will not fully meet their social obligation to deliver investment in these communities to ensure a just and equitable response to the climate crisis.

We know change will not happen without deliberate effort, and CFA recognizes its own responsibility to act. As a Benefit LLC, CFA is committed to doing our part to advance climate and racial justice in our own organization, our work, and engagement with our clients, as well as beyond to the broader climate change advocacy and financial communities.