The world has committed to keeping global warming below 2 degrees. To achieve this, over 80% of the proven fossil fuel reserves will have to stay in the ground (1) - we simply cannot afford to continue to invest in this industry. However, the arguments against fossil fuel investments are not just environmental. Economically, it is clearly unsustainable to rely on non-renewable resources. The price of oil is already volatile and is a significant source of financial risk (2) whereas, in contrast, low-carbon investments are becoming increasingly profitable (3). Divestment is a proven, powerful tool for people to collaborate and directly effect large scale change. It was, for example, a key strategy in the ending of South African apartheid and the stigmatisation of the tobacco industry, and will be a key player in the global transition to sustainable energy sources. The University of Bath has fossil fuel holdings totalling half a million pounds including over £100,000 in Shell alone (4). Our call is for the university to divest these holdings and publicly commit to never investing in them again. The activities of these companies are completely incompatible with the university’s own mission (5) and is at odds with much of the work on campus, from the research at the CSCT (6) and the IPR (7) to the discussions at the I-SEE (8). The campaign here at Bath is part of the wider Fossil Free movement – an accumulation of grassroots campaigns at a diverse range of respected institutions around the world, from Le Louvre museum in Paris to the University of Cambridge here in the UK. A quarter of universities in the UK have already committed to divesting, and Bath should be proud to join their ranks. Many of these forward-thinking universities had far more invested (9), so what we are demanding is not out of reach. The wider statement that the University of Bath will make when it divests will be significant and will extend far beyond the removal of the raw finances. In divesting from fossil fuels, the University will be: - Showing solidarity with communities already bearing the brunt of the effects of climate change, most of whom have contributed little to the problem; - Helping to reclaim our democracy from the power of fossil fuel lobbying groups (10); - Contributing to the stigmatisation of the fossil fuel industry: “the most far-reaching threat to fossil fuel companies” (11); - Influencing public discourse on climate change: leading the way for other UK universities and policy makers, too. It is time for the University of Bath to realise how incompatible a safe climate future is with these fossil fuel relationships, and to take meaningful action to go fossil free. This petition for a Fossil Free Bath complements Bath SU policy (12) voted through by 60% of students in early 2016. References (1) http://math.350.org/ (2) https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/03/bank-of-england-warns-of-financial-risk-from-fossil-fuel-investments (3) https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/feb/13/renewable-energy-investment-fossil-fuel-divestment-investor-summit-climate-change (4) FOI (5) http://www.bath.ac.uk/about/values/ethics/code-of-ethics.html (6) http://www.bath.ac.uk/csct/research/energy-water.html (7) http://www.bath.ac.uk/ipr/policy-briefs/reports/climate-change.html (8) http://www.bath.ac.uk/i-see/ (9) https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/08/glasgow-becomes-first-university-in-europe-to-divest-from-fossil-fuels (10) http://priceofoil.org/fossil-fuel-industry-influence-in-the-u-s/ (11) http://www.smithschool.ox.ac.uk/research-programmes/stranded-assets/SAP-divestment-report-final.pdf (12) https://www.bathstudent.com/pageassets/policy-governance/2015-16-4-Fossil-Free-Bath.pdf

It will prove that Royal Holloway is a leading educational institution, dedicated to its mission of 'agenda-setting research, which is addressing some of the world’s biggest cultural, social, scientific and economic challenges in innovative and impactful ways and distinctive range of programmes that are relevant to lifelong employment needs combine to provide real value for students, both while they are studying and in the opportunities that their Royal Holloway degree will bring them now and throughout their lives.' 200 publicly-traded fossil fuel companies hold the vast majority of the world’s proven coal, oil and gas reserves. Those are the companies we are asking Royal Holloway to break their links with These companies hold five times more carbon in their fossil fuel reserves than we can safely afford to burn to stop runaway climate change. Fossil fuel companies cause huge environmental and human devastation in the process of extracting and burning fossil fuels. Withdrawing Royal Holloway’s financial and moral backing for this climate-wrecking industry is crucial to tackling climate change.

Our universities a responsibility to divest from an industry that’s destroying our future, and reinvest in solutions to climate change. We can not count on the federal government, even as extreme weather events like the record rain fall in the Duluth area last Spring overwhelm local budgets. We have the solutions, but we won’t see any political progress on the issue until we can weaken the power of the fossil fuel industry. The bottom line is this: divestment is the only moral choice for governments that care about their citizens. Solving the climate crisis is the only practical choice for governments that care about their solvency. It's time to divest from fossil fuels now!

Humanity is at a precipice. In October 2018, the United Nations International Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) stipulated that humanity would have to cut carbon emissions in half by 2030 and reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050 in order to avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change. The science is clear that institutions must play a role in the mass effort to avoid climate catastrophe. The 2017 Carbon Majors Report found that just 100 fossil fuel companies have been responsible for 71% of global emissions since 1988. If we are to avoid the least catastrophic side effects of increased global temperature, which include droughts, floods, and famines increasing in both frequency and severity the longer we fail to act, “the world would have to leave two-thirds of its fossil fuel reserves unexploited” As a result, it is downright abhorrent to continue harboring any connection to an industry that bears significant responsibility for the crisis that disproportionately harms low-income, and minority communities, in addition to threatening the future of each and every human being. Specifically in regards to the Cleveland community, our region has been detrimentally impacted by heightened droughts and floods—the results of which reverberate through agriculture and infrastructure development, contributing to widespread, systemic, environmental racism. CWRU’s $1.87 billion endowment currently has an undisclosed exposure to fossil fuels, an industry that has led an attack on science and climate crimes against humanity. The destruction perpetuated by the fossil fuel industry is not accidental. The Climate Deception Dossiers, published by the Union of Concerned Scientists, contains over 300 pages worth of documents and internal memos from fossil fuel companies that display a deep understanding of potential implications as far back as the 1980s. Even more unforgivable is the evidence of “forged letters to Congress, secret funding of a supposedly independent scientist, the creation of fake grassroots organizations, multiple efforts to deliberately manufacture uncertainty about climate science and more.” CWRU cannot credibly claim to be an institution that promotes scientific inquiry and academic integrity, nor can it continue to assert that the university holds self-stated core values such as “academic freedom and responsibility,” “ethical behavior” and an “emphasis on sustainability” while continuing to invest in publicly traded fossil fuel companies. There is undeniable evidence that fossil fuels have been and will continue to be an increasingly imprudent investment. As shown in the report written by American University’s Student Government Financial Research Office, which led to the university’s subsequent divestment several months ago, “indices without fossil fuel investments perform better than those with such investments...fossil free investments have practically identical, often lesser, volatility as compared to their traditional counterparts, speaking to their sustainability.” The report continues with the evidence that divestment does not impair an investment portfolio, stating that “portfolios that divest from fossil fuels and utilities and invest in clean energy perform better than those with fossil fuels and utilities.” Finally, the report explains how investing in fossil fuels is, contrary to popular belief, an extraordinarily high-risk endeavor. These risks arise from a number of sources: global policy changes aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; evolving technology which has the potential to undermine the success of fossil fuels, exemplified by the prediction that “LED lighting will reduce electricity consumption for lighting by 40 percent between 2013 and 2030”; and the potential for fossil fuels to become “stranded assets” through various pressures which will render them liabilities. All these factors contribute to the estimate that average annual returns may fall up to 74% and 63% in the coal and oil subsectors, respectively. Fossil fuel divestment is not only a decision which is morally right, but one which is also realistic and financially sound. On April 22, American University announced that although they had “had no direct investments in fossil fuel funds for several years,” they [had] divested all of its public fossil fuel investments from its endowment. In AU’s case, much of the fossil fuel exposure was “concentrated entirely in commingled funds.” However, in what CWRU might call “Thinking Beyond the Possible™ ,” over just several months, AU’s Board of Trustees eliminated the remaining $12.9 million of fossil fuel exposure within the public endowment portfolio by selling “$350 million in commingled and index funds, with the proceeds reinvested in investments that do not include any fossil fuel holdings.” Institutions such as American University, in addition to the University of Hawaii and Pratt Institute, have set the gold standard for complete divestment by showing not only, that it is realistic with both financially and socially responsible leadership, but also that joining these few universities gives CWRU the opportunity to establish itself as a leader in combating the climate crisis. Continuing to ignore calls for divestment will undeniably stake the university, members of the board of trustees, and administrators sides in history as complicit in the continuing irreversible harm to the Cleveland community, and humanity as a whole.

Da der Klimawandel unseren Planeten bereits jetzt verwüstet, haben unsere Regierungen beschlossen, die globale Erwärmung auf unter 2°C zu beschränken. Das soll einen katastrophalen Klimawandel vermeiden. Das heisst: 80% der fossilen Brennstoffe, die bereits registriert sind, müssen in der Erde bleiben. Die mächtige Öl-, Gas- und Kohlelobby behindert die politischen Kräfte, die in diese Richtung gehen wollen. Es ist an der Zeit, die fossile Brennstoffindustrie direkt zu konfrontieren. Der erste Schritt ist es, die Finanzierung dieser Industrie zu beenden.

If society-at-large continues to invest in Fossil Fuels at the same levels it is today, we are on a trajectory for total ecological devastation way before 2100. It is unjust to fund an academic institution with dollars earned from industries that ultimately guarantee the ecological demise of the world within which your graduates find themselves. If we neglect to acknowledge the political, social, and environmental implications of continued investments in Fossil Fuels, we are in denial of scientific facts and natural truths. The world has less than 565 gigatons of carbon equivalents left to burn before it has deposited enough pollution into the atmosphere to raise global temperatures a full 2 degrees Celsius. As the only internationally agreed upon upper limit of climate degradation, we must conserve the fossil fuels we have and not invest in any further explorations to meet this limit. At present, the total net value of all fossil fuel companies includes over 2700 gigatons of carbon equivalents -- 5 times the amount that we can burn to secure a reasonable climate future -- which makes these investments riskier than anything else, ever. This is true not only in a financial sense, but in an environmental and social sense as well. The aggressive methods of fossil fuel extraction that dominate the industry today--visible in the Canadian Tar Sands, Arctic Sea Waters, Marcellus Shale Fracking, and Appalachian Mountain Top Removal-- are devastating for communities on all fronts. Long term health implications-- doubling rates of cancer, birth defects, and cardiovascular disease, in addition to irreversibly polluted waterways and aquifers-- are not worth the short-term jobs or investment profit. The time to act is now. Although divestment may not bankrupt this industry, it will chip away at the political strength of Fossil Fuel companies. Once their stranglehold on policy is dismantled, the political will to fund the explosion of alternative energy technologies that American society so desperately needs can burst forth. By halting investments in Mountain Top Removal, PNC would signal the end of the era of the most ecologically-devastating energy-extraction technologies yet, and may increase investments in a safer, cleaner, renewable energy future. By hiring Fund Managers to determine Temple's exposure to Fossil Fuel Investments, our Board is making a serious investment in our collective future and fulfilling a Mission Statement promise to "broaden knowledge through research for the benefit of society". Membership in APUPCC and INCR are a great starting points, but fall short of the Climate Action Plan promise to create an "interdisciplinary Center for Urban Ecology, which will connect faculty research activities in an integrative manner through interdisciplinary efforts drawing from departments and colleges to create a university-wide sustainability research enterprise." If Temple truly seeks to be a "living laboratory for sustainability" (Climate Action Plan 2010) and honestly "strives to be a national center of excellence in teaching and research with an international presence" (Mission Statement 2004) then Divesting from Fossil Fuels is an extraordinary way for Temple's Board to Be the Change that they themselves desire. Temple's complacent support of this complicit industry may only be an issue locally, but the devastating impacts of the carbon emissions funded by this institution will be felt around the world. It is only in the best interest of every single living thing on this planet that Temple demonstrates leadership and service to Philadelphia's long-held tradition of Liberty. Divest. Today.

Climate change is no longer a future state. It's here and accelerating. We are witnessing the increasing global impacts of a warming planet more and more consistently. Just in the last few years, extreme weather, record-breaking heat, droughts, hurricanes, and flooding have impacted hundreds of thousands of people with a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars. The vast majority of scientists and climate experts agree that global warming is caused by human activity and that burning fossil fuels will continue to accelerate and intensify these tragic climate disasters. Furthermore, the huge dependence on government subsidies and political rules makes the fossil fuel sector more risky and volatile as a financial investment. There is growing evidence that the sector is greatly over-valued. When a true cost is placed on carbon emissions, these shares will be worth substantially less. Analysis of historical data shows that over the past seven years, eliminating the fossil fuel sector from a global benchmark index would have actually resulted in a slightly higher return. It is unconscionable to pay for our education with monies that will then be invested to support the fossil fuel industry and condemn the planet to climate disaster. We ask you to join a growing movement of diverse groups and organizations around the world that are committed to a clean energy future by moving the University of Ottawa’s endowment away from fossil fuels and into sustainable investments. (Credit to, and in solidarity with, the University of Ottawa Campaign for the above script, 350.org and Bill McKibbon for instigating this movement and to all campaigners everywhere who go out of their way to bravely spread this message and live in Truth with this crisis.)

My niece and several friends graduated from Georgia State University. This is important for them and their families. Climate change is accelerating. We are witnessing the increasing impacts of a warming planet more and more consistently; in this last year alone our country experienced record-breaking heat, droughts, and hurricanes, which impacted hundreds of thousands of people and cost our country hundreds of billions of dollars. Hurricane Sandy alone caused $50bn in damages. Experts agree that global warming caused by humans burning fossil fuels will continue to accelerate and intensify these tragic climate disasters. The scientific consensus is clear and overwhelming; we cannot safely burn even half of global fossil-fuel reserves without dangerously warming the planet for several thousand years. As public pressure to confront climate change builds, we call on Georgia State University to immediately freeze any new investment in fossil-fuel companies, and to divest within five years from direct ownership and from any commingled funds that include fossil-fuel public equities and corporate bonds. We believe such action on behalf of Georgia State University will not only be a sound decision for our institution’s financial portfolio, but also for the wellbeing of its current and future graduating classes, who deserve the opportunity to graduate with a future not defined by climate chaos.

As climate change progresses, we become more aware of the hazardous consequences that manifest in relation to a warming planet. We understand that in order to combat the issue, we have to alter our daily practices. However. the lobbying power of the major fuel companies has diminished the voices and power of individuals within our political system. Subsequently, policy has been written to favor the interests of the companies benefiting from the exploitation of our environment. We are asking Valdosta State to distance itself from this industry and pursue alternatives, knowing that if we wish to address climate change, a collaborative effort must be made. By joining this movement, we can create a more ethical campus and move in the direction of sustainability.

Climate change is no longer a future state. It's here and accelerating. We are witnessing the increasing global impacts of a warming planet more and more consistently. Just in the last few years, extreme weather, record-breaking heat, droughts, hurricanes, and flooding have impacted hundreds of thousands of people with a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars. The vast majority of scientists and climate experts agree that global warming is caused by human activity and that burning fossil fuels will continue to accelerate and intensify these tragic climate disasters. Furthermore, the huge dependence on government subsidies and political rules makes the fossil fuel sector more risky and volatile as a financial investment. There is growing evidence that the sector is greatly over-valued. When a true cost is placed on carbon emissions, these shares will be worth substantially less. Analysis of historical data shows that over the past seven years, eliminating the fossil fuel sector from a global benchmark index would have actually resulted in a slightly higher return. It is unconscionable to pay for our education with monies that will then be invested to support the fossil fuel industry and condemn the planet to climate disaster. We ask you to join a growing movement of diverse groups and organizations around the world that are committed to a clean energy future by moving the University of Carleton’s endowment away from fossil fuels and into sustainable investments. This petition is sponsored by 350 Ottawa, a local chapter of 350.org. The list of top 200 fossil-fuel companies can be found at the following link: http://bit.ly/VOP9Um

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