By Sr. Maamalifar M. Poreku (MSOLA), Executive Co-Secretary of the JPIC Commission USG and UISG
A prophetic edge for Catholic investors is urgently needed to enable a paradigm shift away from economic systems geared towards the maximization of profit at all costs.
ECONOMIC DOMINANCE
The capitalistic intention to control economic power has led to a litany of atrocities, domination, exploitation and oppression repeating itself throughout human history. Tragically, we have not yet learned from history in order to change for the better. This lack of learning is the source of many of the systemic crises that we face today.
Unfortunately, the instinct to establish economic dominance has always been hidden under the “wrapping paper” of acceptability and normalisation – paper of different “colours” at different times.
What are these wrapping papers, you ask?
- The slave trade was one: humans became property, commodities carried to the New World to work on plantations and suffer for the economic gain of others. Let’s not forget this was once considered the acceptable, normal face of economic expansion. And let’s not forget, either, that people are still trafficked and forced to work in subhuman conditions for the economic benefit of others, even today: the slave trade may no longer exist, as such, but we know the global garment industry, the fishing industry and the toothpaste industry are based on slave labour, for example, and somehow this has become normalised.
- When the slave trade was abolished, at least nominally, the dominant “wrapping paper” became colonization, so as to continue controlling resources and people in the Global South for the benefit of industries in the Global North.
- Then, with the independence of colonized countries on the horizon, the newest wrapping paper became neo-colonization – institutionalized, rather than military, dominance.
- Today, democracy is in danger of functioning as mere wrapping paper, enabling interference and oppression in the lives of many, for the benefit of few. At heart, this is an economic issue: in democracies today, wealth is used to influence elections, policies and programmes, sustaining centuries of inequality.
ECOLOGICAL WRAPPING PAPER
As people of the Church, we embrace the invitation of Pope Francis to welcome an ecological conversion. We believe the environmental crises that our world is facing are an opportunity – an opening to transition towards sustainable lifestyles that draw on traditional wisdom to develop new models for the future. But as we attempt this transition, there are some crucial questions that we must keep asking, to avoid replicating the same neo-colonial paradigms that have led our planet to its current point of crisis.
For example: will the so-called clean energy projects support the recovery of biodiversity? Will they reduce waste and pollution, particularly as regards waste dumping from the global North across the South? Will they provide stable and dignified work for communities on the frontlines of climate change? Or will they privatise energy production into the hands of profit-driven corporate superpowers, that will treat their workers as commodities?
These questions are particularly pertinent to the issue of mining. New technologies for capturing, conserving, and distributing energy involve the extraction and processing of minerals.
The European Union has drawn up a list of 34 critical raw materials needed for the so-called energy transition and labelled 16 of them strategic. In September 2020, the European Commission, aware of demand predictions and supply vulnerabilities, approved a new Action Plan on Critical Raw Materials. This plan encourages the implementation of mining projects in countries across the Global South, presented as a response to the climate crisis.
As we know, however, modern mines are large-scale industrial operations that displace entire communities, destroy surfaces including forests and agricultural lands, and pollute water and air, creating huge toxic waste deposits. They also use toxic chemicals in processing, causing long-lasting damage that contributes to climate change. Now that they are planning to do deep sea and space mining, how long do we still have to live on this earth?
At the moment, there is an online campaign organised by European citizens, calling on the European Parliament and national ministries to reject the European Critical Raw Materials Act of 2023, because it violates fundamental human and environmental rights. This campaign states: “The EU Commission is on a mining bonanza. It wants to give way to big, industrial mining across Europe and beyond. It created a plan to produce more cars, so that Europe’s carmakers and big mining can pocket fat profits. It labelled its plan “green,” hoping that no one would see through it” (We Move Europe).
CATHOLIC INVESTORS
With all this in mind, how can Catholic investors contribute to transforming global economic systems for the common good?
Firstly, there is the need to develop and promote a vision for investment directed towards systemic transformation. This requires understanding the technical complexity of market procedures and establishing appropriate criteria to select financial products.
The Church and religious institutes must move away from investments that are not aligned with their faith values. This means divesting from big corporations focused on mining, fossil fuels and logging, which are actively hurting our planet and treating workers poorly. It also means, more broadly, divesting from companies that contribute in any way to inequality, poverty and planetary destruction. It is paradoxical that many corporate organisations are turning huge profits from extractive industries, for example, and then using a portion of those profits to support the work of Catholic Sisters, sponsored ministries or NGOs. In essence, much good work is being funded by the same economic systems that create our problems to begin with – and we must find a way to challenge this. The Lord desires justice and mercy, not sacrifice.
As Catholics, we are invited to live conscious prayer and sacred action to transform the world in the spirit of the Gospel through lives of justice, peace and care for the integrity of Creation. This is why, within the joint JPIC office of UISG and USG, we focus on promoting climate justice by empowering people to say no to the destruction of their environments and communities. Catholic investors can support this work by promoting a shift towards investments aligned with values such as justice, peace, stewardship, solidarity, care and faith, particularly through strategies like impact investing and non-extractive philanthropy.
Impact investments divert funds towards initiatives that intentionally seek to create positive environmental and social outcomes. They also contribute to systemic transformation by reshaping economic systems to create more equitable outcomes for people and the planet.
This means, for example:
- Investing in businesses and organisations that care for people and the planet.
- Using real estate and funds in ways that contribute to a regenerative economy.
- Thinking systemically about our investments to address all aspects of our resources, and use all our resources for mission, not just for profit.
- Making donations that directly support community priorities for social or environmental impact, where needed, with no expectation of financial return.
- Investing in companies that promote responsible and sustainable practices, prioritizing fair trade, dignified labour, community engagement, and environmental sustainability.
- Supporting the needs of the poor, marginalised and vulnerable through investments centred on people and on mission.
- Investing in ensuring food security especially in the global south by committing to help farmers, and especially peasants, to engage in: 1) natural farming to heal and recover the soil killed by chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides; and 2) protecting and preserving local traditional seeds threatened by genetically modified seeds endangering food security.
- Investing in carbon fund by giving money anytime we travel by plane for projects or actions against climate change and biodiversity loss.
As Pope Francis stressed: “The goal of economics and politics is to serve humanity, beginning with the poorest and most vulnerable, wherever they may be.” This will require sacrifices in financial returns – which is less frightening than we’re led to believe, because financial returns are not the only good measure of successful investment.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the Church has an important role to play in developing a global vision for an economy based on sustainable lifestyles and systemic transformation, through its investment policies and political choices. Within all religious groups and institutions, the way we invest our resources plays a critical role in supporting and shaping that new economic vision.
The Church also needs to spearhead a global campaign to de-commodify the energy sector, focusing on the truth that energy is a common good and a right for everyone, rather than just a means to a profit-driven end. Catholic investors and all those who work with them must join forces with Vatican institutions to push states towards promoting care-based alternatives to profiteering through legislation, regulation, non-extractive investments and direct intervention.
I invite all of us to visit the peripheries, as Pope Francis would say: to witness the suffering generated by our economy of consumption, to truly understand the struggles of communities affected by our unchecked demands, and to imagine a radically different future.