It has been proven that going beyond a 2oC increase in global temperatures would lead to catastrophic climate change. In order to attain this 2oC increase, scientists have calculated that we would have to burn around 565 gigatons of carbon. It may seem like a lot... However, the fossil fuel industry currently holds 2795 gigatons of carbon in reserves which is 5 times more than is safe to burn. At current rates of consumption we would hit a 2oC increase in global temperatures in 16 years. The planet is our home, and pumping the atmosphere with CO2, methane and other fossil fuel driven gases will increase global temperatures which will cause the icecaps to melt resulting in rising sea levels. The effects our devastating on our humanity as it will destroy our habitat and will also lead to climate change refugees seeking resources that are no longer there. Burning fossil fuels is not only bad for the atmosphere, but also the seas and oceans, whose acidity is going up, threatening its delicate ecosystems like coral reefs and the Gulf stream which we rely on for our UK climate. The impact could be catastrophic as it could lead to the stagnation of our oceans. UK universities currently invest £5.2 billion in the fossil fuel industry. Did you know that is equal to approximately £2000 for every student? Do you really want your university's money to be invested in this industry? Or would you rather it went towards a more sustainable future, one in which we all have a future. The University is supposed to be a bastion of forward thinking and life changing research in our society. Investing our money in the fossil fuel industry goes completely against this. The fossil fuel industry is wrecking our planet so why should our University profit from such a wreckage? Hopefully you will understand why it is so important that our University pulls its investments out of the fossil fuel industry.

Klimaendringene er den største utfordringen i vår tid. I september 2013 offentliggjorde IPCC sin siste rapport, som slår fast at det er ekstremt sannsynlig at den observerte oppvarmingen i global temperatur siste halvdel av 1900-tallet er et resultat av menneskelig aktivitet og CO2-utslipp. En økning i global temperatur fører til endringer i natur og økosystem som truer vårt livsgrunnlag og annet liv på planeten. Tall fra Carbon Tracker Initiative viser at fire femdeler av verdens kjente ressurser av fossil energi må bli liggende i bakken hvis vi skal ha en reell sjanse for å unngå en global oppvarming over to grader. Den siste rapporten fra FNs Klimapanel IPCC viser at hvis vi fortsetter utslippene som i dag, vil vi ha en økning på over fire grader fra dagens temperatur. Skal vi holde oss innenfor togradersmålet må vi derfor kutte kraftig allerede nå, og utslippene må gå ned med omtrent fem prosent i året. OECD skriver i en ny rapport at vi må kutte radikalt nå, og fullstendig stanse utslipp innen 2050. Norge har vært heldige til nå, men vi ser at vår velferd er basert på utnyttelse av ressurser og menneskeliv i andre deler av verden. Samtidig som vi har tilgang på enorme energiressurser fra fornybar energi, utvinner vi olje og gass i et tempo som verken gagner oss eller verden i det lange løp. Å kutte i produksjonen handler ikke om at vi skal stanse oljeproduksjonen over natten, men krever at vi umiddelbart må begynne en omstilling til et fossilfritt samfunn. Universiteter og andre offentlige forskingsinstitusjoner har en enormt viktig rolle som premissleverandører for en slik omstilling. I følge de etiske retningslinjene for naturvitenskap og teknologi skal forskning være i overenstemmelse med menneskerettighetene, en bærekraftig utvikling og respekt for miljøet. I tillegg skal føre var-prinsippet anvendes der det er ”plausibel, men usikker kunnskap om en teknologisk anvendelse eller utvikling av et forskningsfelt kan føre til etisk uakseptable konsekvenser for helse, samfunn eller miljø”. Gitt tallene og scenariene fra FN, er det grunn til å stille spørsmål ved etikken rundt fortsatt forskning på teknologi som fører til mer utvinning og utslipp fra fossil energi. Universitetet i Bergen samarbeider med næringsliv på en rekke områder. Tette bånd til næringslivet har vært og er samfunnsnyttig på flere områder, men samarbeidspartnere må velges med omhu. UiB har i lang tid hatt en samarbeidsavtale med Statoil gjennom Akademia-avtalen. Avtalen står i kraft til 2018, men det sannsynlig at den vil bli forlenget forbi dette tidspunktet. For øyeblikket diskuteres det hvordan en forlenget avtale vil se ut. Dette er problematisk da samarbeidet forutsetter forskning som kan bidra til økt utvinning og en forlengelse av fossilalderen. Universitetet binder seg dessuten til positiv omtale av resultatene fra forskingen under avtalen, og setter dermed institusjonens uavhengighet i fare.

If you think we have a lot of poverty, conflict and injustice in the world today, imagine a world with 4 degrees C of global warming. This is where we are headed by the end of this century, according to the most recent projections, if we carry on emitting CO2 the way we are now. [1] Those who will be hit hardest and first live in countries of the Global South, which lack the resources to adapt to this dramatic change in climate. Yet these people have made virtually no contribution to this problem. The responsibility for these emissions, and the power to reduce them, lies with the industrialised economies of the Global North. So far, we have failed to take action. Our governments and institutions continue to invest vast sums in companies extracting oil and gas, giving them huge public subsidies that have helped to make them the most profitable companies in the world. SOAS is famous for our passion for promoting the peoples and cultures of Africa and Asia. Yet when faced with the problem of climate change, which poses the greatest threat in human history to those very peoples and cultures, SOAS too has failed to take action. SOAS still holds investments in a number of fossil fuel companies. We need to shift our money away from these companies today if we are to have any hope of preventing climate disaster. By divesting from fossil fuels, SOAS will join dozens of other universities, religious institutions and local governments across the world that have already committed to going fossil free. Together, we can make a substantial dent in the financial support that the fossil fuel industry needs to survive. We will also send an important signal to our governments and private sector about the urgent moral and financial imperative of shutting down fossil fuels. In doing this, we form part of an illustrious history of university divestment campaigns shifting public opinion on the great moral issues of our day-- from the anti-apartheid campaigns of the 1980s to SOAS’ own divestment from the arms trade in 2005. “To anyone who continues to deny the reality that is climate change, I dare you to get off your ivory tower and away from the comfort of your armchair. I dare you to go to the islands of the Pacific and see the impacts of rising sea levels… to the large deltas of the Mekong, the Ganges, the Amazon, and the Nile where lives and livelihoods are drowned… to the vast savannas of Africa where climate change has likewise become a matter of life and death … And if that is not enough, you may want to pay a visit to the Philippines right now.” -Philippines delegate Yeb Sano at the opening of the UN climate negotiations on 13 November 2013, before embarking on a hunger strike [1] http://www.climatechange2013.org/images/uploads/WGIAR5_WGI-12Doc2b_FinalDraft_All.pdf

From our work and engagement with students from diverse political backgrounds, we recognize that students unerringly want to see a lucrative, prosperous endowment. They also express a significant commitment to seeing this endowment undergirded by principles. They find it important that the University’s investments are aligned with the University’s mission to “contribute to society” and the University’s core values such as the “concern for sustainability and the relationship with the environment”. Students continually assert that the University has a responsibility for the social and environmental impacts of its investments, and although the University’s primary aim is to contribute to society through education and research, the companies the University invests in might both directly and indirectly counteract these contributions. On a broader note, we believe the relationship between our finances and global issues needs to be further discussed. As an example, Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), has called upon public institutions around the world to expand their understanding of fiduciary duties, and to recognize the carbon impact of their investments. We feel that Cambridge University, as one of the world’s leading academic institutions, should think very carefully about its duties as a global institution and the message it sends out when it ignores such calls. While we are not here today to argue which specific companies or sectors are responsible or irresponsible, we strongly believe that there needs to be a wider and more open discussion about how the University can improve the social and environmental impact of their investments. We want to see a more extensive review process which is open to result in a change in the investment policy and practice making Cambridge University one of the leading investors regarding both the financial returns and the social and environmental impact of their investments.

The world in which the students of the University of Glasgow are to graduate into is currently threatened by the reality of climate change. Already the world is suffering the effects of 1°C rise in global average temperatures. Last year, Arctic sea-ice cover had retreated to its lowest levels since the beginning of satellite records, and the average global sea level was 1.4in above the 1993-2010 average. The world is experiencing more severe draught, wildfires and flooding, which impact the world's poorest most severely; the World Health Organisation estimates that climate change is causing at least 140,000 deaths per year. The fossil fuel industry is unequivocally driving us towards a global climate crisis, and we will not keep dangerous climate change at bay without halting our extraction of fossil-fuels. The university has both a moral and a financial duty to its students to withdraw its investments from the fossil fuel industry. The moral case is clear: if it is wrong to wreck the climate, then it is wrong to profit from that wreckage. Furthermore, fossil fuels are a dangerous investment. The value of companies like Shell, BP and Chevron is based on the assumption that they will be able to dig up and sell their fossil fuel reserves. But if the world gets serious about stopping climate change, that would mean keeping 80% of proven fossil fuel reserves in the ground, and the assumption that forms the basis for these companies' value will be undermined. We call on the University of Glasgow to lead the way on this issue, and protect the future of its students, by divesting from the fossil fuel industry now.

It is wrong for an institution of higher education to profit from the destruction of the planet. Dalhousie's investments in the fossil fuel industry actively compromise the ability of our generation, and our children’s generation, to lead socially and environmentally healthy lives. By investing in the fossil fuel industry we are investing in an industry whose profitability depends on ensuring the catastrophic effects of climate change. This is not only problematic and dire, it means that investment in fossil fuels undermines the values held by Dalhousie University. As a self-declared leader in sustainability, it's time for Dal to put its money where its mouth is - and invest in both future students and the future of the planet.

Time and again it has been scientifically proven that climate change triggered by the increase of CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere is directly linked to human industrial activity that is powered by the burning of fossil fuels. To stabilise atmospheric CO2 concentrations and thereby minimise the hard to predict impacts of rising global temperatures, we need to take action right now. Therefore, we the students of LSE are asking the school to disclose its endowment fund investments. If the portfolio contains investments in fossil fuel focussed companies, we will work with the the school to shift its focus towards low carbon technology and clean energy companies. We must mitigate the anthropogenic effect by addressing where our institution is investing its money.

Fossil Free har kommit till Göteborg! Fossil Free är en internationell kampanj som verkar för att gemensamma tillgångar (skattepengar och andra resurser) som investeras i olja, kol och gas, lyfts ur investeringen (divesteras). Det är inte många institutioner idag som placerar sina tillgångar i vapenindustrin - det är helt enkelt betraktat som omoraliskt. Människor håller med varandra om att vapen inte är okej att stödja. Det vi nu insett är att även olja, kol och gas kan ses som vapen: Vapen riktade mot oss, klimatet och vår framtid. Är det då verkligen moraliskt att ha sina pengar placerade i en industri som utsätter oss alla för fara, en industri som bevisligen spenderar miljarder årligen på att genom lobbyism och klimatskeptiska tankesmedjor förhala all politisk handling riktad mot en förnybar omställning? "If it's wrong to wreck the climate, then it's wrong to profit from that wreckage!" Det finns även starka finansiella incitament för att divestera ur fossilindustrin. Vi har råd med absolut max en 2-gradig global medeltemperaturhöjning. För att hålla oss under 2 grader har vi råd att släppa ut max 565 gigaton koldioxid i atmosfären fram till 2050, detta enligt rapporten “Unburnable Carbon” från Carbon Tracker Initiative. Enligt samma rapport sitter dock fossilindustrin redan på gas-, kol- och oljekällor som vid utvinning och förbränning skulle orsaka utsläpp av 2 795 gigaton koldioxid. Utifrån detta kan vi räkna ut att 80% av befintliga fossila bränslen måste lämnas under jord, ifall vi vill bibehålla ett någorlunda stabilt klimat på jorden! Det innebär också att de pengar vi har placerade i dessa bränslen kommer att försvinna i tomma intet så snart alla inser att vi måste lämna 80% under jord - detta är en finansiell bubbla, också känd som "fossilbubblan", som förmodligen kommer att spricka inom en snar framtid. Inte vill väl vi förlora 80% av värdet på stora delar av våra tillgångar? För vidare information besök http://gofossilfree.org/about/ och se gärna "Do the Math", en film som beskriver problematiken med att fossilindustrin ges fria tyglar (med stöd av våra pengar): http://vimeo.com/66066932

Die internationalen Klimaverhandlungen stagnieren, während die CO2-Emissionen weiter dramatisch steigen. Dabei gehört die Nutzung von Kohle zu den größten Treibern des menschengemachten Klimawandels. Selbst die Internationale Energieagentur (IEA) warnt eindringlich, dass keine neuen Kohlekraftwerke mehr gebaut werden dürfen. Einige öffentliche Banken, darunter die Weltbank und die Europäische Investitionsbank, schränken ihre Kohleinvestitionen massiv ein – nicht jedoch die KfW (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau). Dabei tragen alle Investitionen in Kohle und in andere fossile Brennstoffe dazu bei, dass sich eine „Kohlenstoffblase“ bildet: Die nachgewiesenen Rohstoffreserven von fossilen Unternehmen (nach denen sich ihr Börsenwert berechnet) enthalten etwa fünf mal so viel CO2 wie maximal noch in die Atmosphäre ausgestoßen werden darf, wenn die Erderwärmung auf 2°C begrenzt werden soll. Deshalb formt sich eine Bewegung, die von Universitäten, Kommunen, Banken, Pensionsfonds fordert, ihr Geld nicht mehr in fossilen Unternehmen anzulegen, also zu desinvestieren. 350.org hat nun mit dieser Arbeit in Deutschland begonnen. Gleichzeitig sind Desinvestitions-Kampagnen in Schweden, den Niederlanden, der Schweiz und in England aktiv. Der große Erfolg der Fossil Free Kampagne in den USA, Australien und Neuseeland zeigt, dass wir auf dem richtigen Weg sind. Um den Schwung der Fossil Free Europe Tour in Berlin zu nutzen, wollen wir als erstes der KfW Beine machen: Sie fördert zwar seit vielen Jahren Energieeffizienz, erneuerbare Energien sowie Umwelt- und Klimaprojekte, doch gleichzeitig konterkariert sie ihr eigenes Engagement, indem sie aktuell am Neubau von mindestens neun Kohlekraftwerken, zwei Kohleminen und mehreren Kohleinfrastrukturprojekten weltweit beteiligt ist. In Kürze will die KfW über einen Kredit für das neue Braunkohlekraftwerk Ptolemaida V in Griechenland entscheiden. Nun ist es an der Zeit für uns zu Handeln: So wie die klima-allianz deutschland und urgewald e.V. fordern wir die KfW auf, zukünftige Investitionen in Kohleprojekte zu stoppen und bei Ptolemaida V zu beginnen. Wir bitten Euch: unterzeichnet die Petition an die KfW, Investitionen in Kohle zu stoppen. Go Fossil Free.

St. Lawrence has a moral and economic obligation to end all investments that benefit from exploiting the planet that cause climate change. "Green is an unofficial St. Lawrence color because environmental sustainability is more than a core value – it’s our way of life," if we are going to advertise this, then we should live up to our principles. Climate change is the most serious problem humanity has ever faced. Now is the time to make changes, not tomorrow, not next year, and certainly not next generation. We have an obligation to ourselves and to future generations to act now. We are not fighting for the planets existence, it will be around for billions of years. We are fighting for a habitable planet for human existence. Generations from now, when they will look back at our legacies, they will see that we rose to the great climate crisis and we overcame the largest challenge humanity has ever faced.

Powys County Council has a duty to look out for the public good. Fossil fuels are in direct conflict with the public good: investing in them poses a risk both to investors and to our communities. PCC must take a moral, political and economic stand against them by taking our money away from fossil fuel companies and putting it into investments that are less at risk from climate change legislation and more compatible with our values. Divestment from fossil fuels would make a powerful statement that the fossil fuel industry is morally and economically unviable, and that the people of Powys wish to support an alternative, sustainable energy future that will leave our towns, villages and rural areas in a shape that allows us, our children and grandchildren to live safely in them. Financial research has called into question the valuations of fossil fuel companies due to their reliance on reserves which may become unburnable if carbon legislation comes into effect. So it's a question of our secure economic future as well. Join an international movement to demand divestment as a powerful, effective response to the realities of Climate Change. And protect the money of Powys, our money, from a bad investment.

Malmö Stad har en viktig föregångsroll som miljöförebild i Sverige och bör därför självklart divestera även sina stiftelsers pengar ur kol, olja och gas.