Jim Cramer: I’m Done with Fossil Fuels. They’re done. They’re tobacco.

Astonishing and arguably historic exchange today on CBS’ Squawk Box where Mad Money’s Jim Cramer dismissed stocks tied to fossil fuels as the new tobacco. Watch CBS’ video embedded below to see this truly remarkable exchange for yourself. Key lines transcribed below, all copyright belongs to CBS and Squawk Box:

Rebecca Quick: What about the two big oil companies Exxon and Chevron today, both of them drags on the Dow right now?”

Jim Cramer: I know that Mike won’t want to hear this but I’m done with fossil fuels. We’re done. You know, they’re just done.

Interviewer Rebecca Quick is astonished but recovers quickly and asks why:

JC: Because we’re starting to see divestment all over the world. We’re starting to see the companies just regard them as… I mean big, big pension funds saying listen we’re not going to own them anymore. It doesn’t matter how good they are.

Again, Quick clarifies whether he’s talking about production concerns, and Cramer doubles down at length:

JC: No, the world’s changed. You know, there’s new managers they don’t want to hear whether these are good or bad. Look at BP: it’s solid yield. Very good. Look at Chevron buying back $5 billion dollars worth of stock, nobody cares, and this has to do with new kinds of money managers who frankly just want to appease younger people who believe that you can’t ever make a fossil fuel company sustainable. That’s why I said (Chevron Chairman and CEO) Mike Wirth’s trying everything he can, but in the end, they make fossil fuels. And that’s going to be, we’re in the death knell phase. I know that’s very contrary, but we’re in the death knell phase.

RQ: Death knell phase for the stocks, but not for the death knell phase for us using fossil fuels, right? 

JC: Well, I think that the issue is sustainability. Look, this is the other side of Tesla, these stocks don’t want to be owned by younger people, their dividends are great, they’re, these companies are doing better than obviously when oil was at… even four years ago when oil was at 26/27, but you can tell that the world’s turned on them. And it’s actually kind of happening very quickly, you’re seeing divestiture by a lot of different funds. It’s going to be a parade. It’s gonna be a parade that says look, these are tobacco, and we’re not going to own them.

Quick remarks that this is an upstream swim and Cramer continues:

JC: They’re tobacco. I think they’re tobacco. We’re in a new world. And some of us will need to be dragged kicking and screaming to even believe that that could be the case but they’re tobacco.

RQ: That’s a, that’s a rough prognosis I’m gonna think some more about that. So we’re watching…

JC: Yeah, prognosis negative.

RQ: We’re watching the Dow dragged down by these three today.

Do This:

This blog does not offer investing advice, but you might want to consult your preferred source or sources of investing advice to discuss your overall portfolio, strategy, and exposure to unpriced climate risks, of which there are many, many kinds affecting many different companies and sectors.

For the sake of making progress against the climate crisis, divesting from individual stocks and from mutual funds that hold certain stocks and kinds of stocks can be very helpful to the cause.

A tool like As You Sow’s “Invest Your Values” screeners can help you do specific research on your portfolio, including certain funds in your 401(k) where data is available. Their offerings include Fossil Free Funds, Deforestation Free Funds, and Gender Equality Funds, as well as others.

Dig Deeper:

Additional reporting on Exxon Mobil earnings released today.

Share CNBC’s Tweet and video of the exchange above on Twitter:  

“I’m done with fossil fuels. They’re done,” @MadMoneyOnCNBC‘s @JimCramer says after oil giants Exxon Mobil and Chevron reported Q4 earnings this morning. “We’re in the death knell phase.” https://t.co/rdcmoeRGMB pic.twitter.com/yl8iP7hpMi

— CNBC (@CNBC) January 31, 2020

Take Action:

Divestment resources:

Go Fossil Free.org

Fossil fuel divestment on wikipedia 

350.org on Divestment

Read more on the Climate Economy blog…