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 $50 billion 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.

Climate change is accelerating. With increasing frequency and severity we are witnessing the impacts of a warming planet. 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 an institution that educates students on global environmental concerns, Memorial University has a particular responsibility to lead by example and be a pioneer in the movement for a sustainable future.

Climate change is accelerating, and we here on the Louisiana Gulf Coast are already feeling its impact. Louisiana coastal wetlands are eroding at the rate of one football field per hour as sea levels rise. Oil drilling in the gulf contributes to this land loss. The most recent National Climate Assessment report warns that Louisiana will see billions of dollars in increased disaster costs as early as 2030. This is the effect of a rise in global temperatures attributed to the burning of fossil fuels. According to the United Nations coalition of scientists, in order to prevent a global climatic catastrophe, no more than one-third of the earth’s carbon reserves owned by fossil fuel companies and governments can be extracted from the earth. Although aware of this fact, major fossil fuel companies continue to extract fossil fuels. These fossil fuel emissions disproportionately impact people of color, indigenous communities, and low-income neighborhoods. Through its investments in these companies, Loyola is supporting their efforts and injustice. Loyola students who pay tuition, as well as its donors are unwitting accomplices in perpetuating the social injustices that arise from climate change. Divesting is an ethical obligation for our community, and the future of our planet.

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 $50 billion 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.

Global climate change is quickly accelerating, profoundly affecting communities all over the world. It is clear that our collective future depends on keeping fossil fuels in the ground. Unfortunately, the world's top 200 oil, coal, and gas companies intend to continue large scale extraction. These corporations value profit over the health and wellbeing of our people and our planet. Despite our college's values regarding sustainability, Warren Wilson has invested part of the school's endowment in the aforementioned fossil fuel companies. By investing Warren Wilson finances in fossil fuels, the institution is directly violating their commitment to sustainability as defined by the college's mission statement (see link below). We must align our endowment with our values. Support the divestment of Warren Wilson College from fossil fuels! http://www.warren-wilson.edu/info/plan/mission.php

Ban Ki-Moon convened a special UN Summit to catalyse action from world leaders to tackle the looming climate crisis last September. He is fully aware that we must leave 80% of the world's known fossil fuel reserves underground and immediately stop exploration for new ones. He must recognise the importance of putting the UN's money where its mouth is and lead the way by divesting the UN's Staff Pension Fund from fossil fuels. The UN Joint Staff Pension Fund is worth over $53 billion and represents the retirement savings of the majority of UN employees. By divesting the UN Pension Fund from fossil fuels, the UN can show that divesting from fossil fuels is both financially responsible and morally necessary. The UN can lead the way in mobilising other pension funds, institutions and investors to withdraw from the industry responsible for the climate crisis and begin to shift investments into the much-needed alternatives. On 21st September 2014 over 700,000 marched in cities and towns across the world to demand climate action, not words. Ban Ki Moon personally accepted a petition signed by over 2 million people whilst on the streets of New York, standing shoulder to shoulder with the People's Climate March. Now he must lead the way, and turns his words into action by divesting the UN Pension Fund from fossil fuels.

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 $50 billion 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.

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 $50 billion 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.

“At what point does a man turn into a monster? I don’t believe that it’s when he does horrible things, but when he accepts that he’s able to do them, and that he does them well.” ― John Greenleaf Whittier, Poet, Quaker, Abolitionist, and Whittier College and Whittier Law School's namesake. With the dire threat of climate change upon us, fragmented approaches to sustainability like recycling simply no longer give a twenty-first century educational institution the moral authority to boast of being sustainable. When we are invested in fossil fuels, we're not green. Having the capability and expertise in investing in fossil fuels, does not make our conduct any less monstrous. Of the thirteen colleges nationwide that have already made commitments to divest from fossil fuels, five are in California: Foothill-De Anze Community College Foundation, Peralta Community College District, Pitzer College, San Francisco State University Foundation, and Stanford University. Further, five California cities have also made commitments to divest: San Francisco, Berkeley, Richmond, Santa Monica, and Oakland. (As well as San Francisco County!) Our prayer is that the Whittier College Board of Trustees recognizes that our institution's noble commitment to sustainability is disingenuous if it includes investments in fossil fuels. Whittier College and Whittier Law School have an opportunity here to lead by joining the pioneering schools first to divest from fossil fuels. We all know this is the right side of history, so let's get on it already. Media inquiries: Curtis Morrison Vice President, Whittier Law School Environmental Law Society J.D. Candidate, Class of 2016, Whittier Law School [email protected] 502.403.9498

Begründung: Spätestens die Dürre dieses Sommers hat uns gezeigt, dass der Klimwandel mitten in Deutschland angekommen ist. Wir haben einen ersten Vorgeschmack bekommen, welchen Druck der Klimawandel auf unsere Landwirtschaft und Gesellschaft ausüben kann. Die extemen Unwetter häufen sich hierzulande genauso wie die "Jahrhundertstürme" an den Küsten Amerikas und Asiens. Allein für Deutschland rechnet die Münchener Rückversicherung bis 2050 mt 800 Milliarden Euro Klimafolgeschäden. Hunderte Millionen von Menschen in den Ländern des globalen Südens sehen das Land unter ihren Füßen durch die Ausbreitung der Wüsten und den Anstieg des Meeresspiegels bedroht. Die Weltbank beziffert die Anzahl der Klimaflüchtlinge bis 2050 mit 140 Millionen. Die internationale Staatengemeinschaft hat sich, um die katastrophalen Folgen eines noch gefährlicheren Klimawandels abzuwenden, 2015 in Paris verpflichtet, alles in ihrer Macht stehende zu unternehmen, um die Erderwärmung deutlich unter zwei Grad Celsius zu begrenzen. Die Ziele, die sich die Staaten allerdings auferlegt haben, führen uns auf einen Pfad, der bis 2100 eine Erwärmung um über 3 Grad Celsius bedeutet. Um die Klimakrise noch aufhalten zu können, müssen die Klimaschutzbemühungen der Staaten also deutlich verschärft werden. Der bestehende wissenschaftliche Konsens besagt, wenn wir den Temperaturanstieg unter 2°C halten wollen, müssen wir dafür sorgen, dass 80% der bekannten Vorkommen fossiler Brennstoffe unter der Erde bleiben. Erdöl-, Kohle- und Gaskonzerne verheizen aber weiterhin ohne Rücksicht auf unsere Lebensgrundlagen und auf zukünftie Generationen in alarmierendem Tempo die bestehenden Vorkommen und geben Milliarden aus, um noch mehr fossile Brennstoffe zu finden. Dabei schrecken sie auch nicht vor hochriskanten und umweltzerstörenden Methoden wie Fracking, Mountain Top Removal, Tagebau, Offshore Drilling und dem Abbau von Teersanden zurück. Daraus ziehen viele dem Gemeinwohl und der Gesellschaft verpflichtete Akteure, wie Städte Kommunden, Universitäten, Kirchen, Stiftungen und auch FInanzinstitute bereits Konsequenzen. Sie investieren nicht mehr in fossile Energien und in Unternehmen, die fossile Energieträger erschließen, abbauen oder verfeuern. Das ist der Grundgedanke von Fossil Free! In Deutschland haben sich unter anderem schon die Städten Göttingen, Münster, Berlin, Bremen und die Universitäten Göttingen und Münster dem Divestement angeschlossen. Es ist an der Zeit, dass sich die Universität Heidelberg getreu ihres Mottos "Zukunft seit 1386" öffentlich und verbindlich zu einem klimafreundlichen Finanz- und Anlagemanagement bekennt.

Our local government has 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!

We, the undersigned, acknowledge and applaud the important commitments Queensland University of Technology has made towards sustainability. However, we wish for QUT to take responsibility and leadership on climate change mitigation, by divesting from their fossil fuel investments. Immediate action on climate change is required if we are to avoid the worst economic, health, environmental and social impacts. Over recent years we have already seen some of these impacts including record breaking summer temperatures, devastating and more frequent cyclones and droughts. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the International Energy Agency (IEA), the World Bank and other reputable authorities all warn of a four degrees Celsius (4oC) rise in average global temperatures by 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase at their current rate. It is clear that QUT takes its impacts on climate change seriously and are institutional leaders on the issue. However, despite QUT’s active steps towards sustainability it has come to our attention that according to QUT’s last annual report, over $254 million was invested with fund manager Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC). QIC is known to invest heavily in fossil fuel assets including the likes of BHP and Origin energy. With principle 3 of the Declaration of Commitment to Sustainability being “Integrating sustainability principles into the decision making, management and operation of university business”, QUT should recognise its climate impacts through its investments and take active steps to mitigate this. As well as the identified moral risks of climate change and investments is fossil fuels there is also a significant financial risk. It has been recognised by the carbon tracker initiative that 80% of fossil fuel reserves must stay in the ground to avoid breaching the political goal of 2 degrees of warming. These reserves are still highly valued, much of which is owned by publicly listed companies and values at over $22 trillion. These assets which are invested in by individuals, banks and institutions could become standard as the unburnable carbon is realized. Financial analysts such as The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) and international organisations such as the World Bank recognise that fossil fuel assets now bear material and growing financial risks. In recent months, we have seen divestment commitments from Stanford University, the United Church in Australia and most recently at the University of Sydney, which has committed to halt further investments in Coal. We encourage QUT to show leadership on sustainability by divesting from it's fossil fuel investments.