HANDBOOK
This section is based on the publication Move the Nuclear Weapons Money: A Handbook for civil society and legislators published by IPB, PNND and WFC.
Table of contents
7. Local authorities
Decisions on national nuclear weapons policies are generally made by national or federal administrations and legislatures. However, local authorities (mayors, city councils and regional councils) also have an important role to play.
Local authorities have a responsibility to provide a safe and sustainable environment for residents and visitors to their communities. The use of nuclear weapons – whether by terrorist organization or government – would have a catastrophic impact on human health, the environment, infrastructure and economy of cities. Even if nuclear weapons are used in low numbers far away from one’s own city, the impact of refugees, radiation and resulting political turmoil would be felt. Local authorities, therefore, have a responsibility to act in cooperation with each other, and with national governments, to prevent such use.
Local authorities have been implementing this responsibility in a number of ways. Some have established themselves as nuclear-weapon-free zones, either through symbolic declarations or through more concrete measures to prohibit any nuclear-weapons-related activities in their jurisdiction. Others have joined organisations such as Mayors for Peace to provide a strong, collective voice from cities for national, regional and global nuclear disarmament initiatives.
With regard to moving the nuclear money, local authorities are able to adopt policies to ensure that public funds they administer do not invest in nuclear weapons corporations. In April 2016, the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts took such action, effectively removing 1 billion USD from possible investment in companies involved in producing and modernizing nuclear weapons.
Resolution adopted by consensus on 2 April 2016 by the Cambridge (US) City Council to prohibit city funds from investing in nuclear weapons corporations
WHEREAS: Nations across the globe still maintain over 15,000 nuclear weapons, some of which are hundreds of times more powerful than those that obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and detonation of even a small fraction of these weapons could create a decade-long nuclear winter that could destroy most of the Earth’s population; and
WHEREAS: The United States has plans to invest roughly one trillion dollars over the coming decades to upgrade its nuclear arsenal, which many experts believe actually increases the risk of nuclear proliferation, nuclear terrorism, and accidental nuclear war; and
WHEREAS: In a period where federal funds are desperately needed in communities like Cambridge in order to build affordable housing, improve public transit, and develop sustainable energy sources, our tax dollars are being diverted to and wasted on nuclear weapons upgrades that would make us less safe; and
WHEREAS: Investing in companies producing nuclear weapons implicitly supports this misdirection of our tax dollars; and
WHEREAS: Socially responsible mutual funds and other investment vehicles are available that accurately match the current asset mix of the City of Cambridge Retirement Fund while excluding nuclear weapons producers; and
WHEREAS: The City of Cambridge is already on record in supporting the abolition of nuclear weapons, opposing the development of new nuclear weapons, and calling on President Obama to lead the nuclear disarmament effort; now therefore be it
ORDERED: That the City Council go on record opposing investing funds from the Cambridge Retirement System in any entities that are involved in or support the production or upgrading of nuclear weapons systems; and be it further
ORDERED: That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to work with the Cambridge Peace Commissioner and other appropriate City staff to organize an informational forum on possibilities for Cambridge individuals and institutions to divest their pension funds from investments in nuclear weapons contractors; and be it further
ORDERED: That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to work with the Board of the Cambridge Retirement System and other appropriate City staff to ensure divestment from all companies involved in production of nuclear weapons systems, and in entities investing in such companies, and the City Manager is requested to report back to the City Council about the implementation of said divestment in a timely manner.
HANDBOOK
This section is based on the publication Move the Nuclear Weapons Money: A Handbook for civil society and legislators published by IPB, PNND and WFC.