Keeling Curve

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Project Summary / Description:

DivestMe is al divestment tool providing personalized insights on users‚ exposure to fossil fuel investments. Using a fintech API to directly connect to personal investment accounts, Divestme provides automated analysis of all investment fund holdings (mutual funds, ETFs, etc.) against a list of companies in the fossil fuel supply chain. By calculating the dollar amount an individual holds in fossil fuel companies, it provides users with a full picture of fossil exposure, encouraging users to divest. The site is operational, and the next phase is linking users to alternative clean funds so users can switch out of dirty funds quickly.

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Best Estimate of GHG Avoidance/Reduction of This Project (Tonnes CO2 Equivalent/Year):

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Impact on Underrepresented Groups:

In my other work on environmental advocacy, I work with groups traditionally under-represented and less well-resourced in the climate movement, such as women-led NGOs in the Philippines, Vietnam, Japan, and other countries. Some groups represent climate-vulnerable communities in regions of the world already experiencing more frequent extreme weather events and other climate impacts. Many groups I have worked with in Kenya, Pakistan, and other countries lack resources to engage directly with American and other foreign companies that are building destructive projects in their backyards. One of the long-term aims of my project is to be able to highlight and link the actions of major companies in the US (e.g. their construction of polluting coal plants) in countries overseas ‚ making that information available to individual investors, to increase the pressure on the companies, provide data transparency, and encourage divestment from the companies or changes by the companies themselves. Through the direct linkage of destructive projects to users‚ personal investments, I want to elevate the voices of resistance from groups in developing countries, who often have trouble reaching journalists or the public overseas. 

Furthermore, as Silicon Valley companies increase their role in climate action (through offset programs to direct air capture and other initiatives), it is important that this new fintech frontier also include more diverse representation, given the lack of diversity in the fintech space. Women are under-represented in the tech industry in the United States, especially in the field of fintech. As an Asian-American woman hoping to break into the field, I recognize that there may be implicit bias and barriers to fundraising from traditional sources in the fintech and startup environment in the United States.

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