Fossil Fuel Divestment: Cities & States

Campaigns (14)

• Portsmouth
  

  Help Portsmouth, NH pave the way for Fossil Fuel DIVESTMENT!

  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't count on the federal government, even as extreme weather events 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!

  43 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Cody Hussey
• Auckland
  

  Urge Auckland Council to Divest from Fossil Fuels!

  Climate change is happening now, driven by the extraction and burning of fossil fuels. Heatwaves are becoming more frequent and more severe, with temperatures in Pakistan reaching 49°C earlier this year, resulting in the loss of over 2000 lives. Extreme monsoons have delivered more than three times normal rainfall to parts of India causing loss of life and livelihood for thousands and acidified oceans are killing coral reefs and putting pressure on fish stocks worldwide. The fossil fuel industry has enough coal, oil and gas in their reserves to breach the IPPC’s agreed-upon 2°C limit 5 times over. It’s time for our council to end their support of the fossil fuel extraction industry. The city of Auckland stands to lose a lot in the face of climate change: Much of Auckland’s CBD and coastline risks being swallowed up by rising seas. Wine-grape and kiwifruit growing around Auckland will be history and the frequency of “one in twenty year” rainfall events could quadruple - putting a great strain on our storm water infrastructure. We urge the Auckland council to show solidarity to Auckland businesses and the community by taking their money out of fossil fuels.

  2,125 of 3,000 Signatures

  Created by Carl Naus
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  Divest Martha's Vineyard towns from Fossil Fuels!

  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!

  21 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Rachael Curtin
• 

  Divest the Virginia Retirement System from Fossil Fuels

  The Virginia Retirement System (VRS) has the fiduciary responsibility to invest public employee retirement savings in enterprises that do not undermine the future health and safety of those same employees. The fossil fuel industry's business objectives are to extract all known fossil fuel reserves and continue to explore for new reserves. It has been demonstrated that if more than 20% of the known reserves are consumed, the climate impacts will adversely affect all aspects of society. Their business model is in conflict with life on Earth. It is unconscionable for the VRS to invest in corporations that threaten the health and welfare of VA’s public employees and all VA residents.

  229 of 300 Signatures

  Created by Natalie Pien
• Beaverton
  

  Divest the City of Beaverton from Fossil Fuels and Nuclear Power!

  Our local government has a responsibility to divest from an industry that’s destroying our future. We can reinvest in solutions to climate change! For more about my work on Climate Change as I prepare to become a Bar Mitzvah please visit: yitzchakadin.wordpress.com. We can not count on action by the federal government. We as individuals, citizens, and members of other organizations need to act also. Extreme weather events are overwhelming local budgets across our country. Nuclear power is no better--not only is it nuclear (and therefore terrible, which should be obvious)--fossil fuels are used heavily in its production and in attempts to minimize the hazard of storing nuclear waste. 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 and nuclear power now!

  532 of 600 Signatures

  Created by Pam and Rob and Miko and Isaac Vergun
• Santa Cruz
  

  Divest the City of Santa Cruz from Fossil Fuels

  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!

  287 of 300 Signatures

  Created by Teetle Clawson
• Los Angeles
  

  Divest the City of Los Angeles from Fossil Fuels!

  Today, March 22, 2013, Mayor Villagrossa is announcing that the City of Los Angeles will not receive any of its electrical power from coal by the year 2025. That is good news, but it alone is not a significant enough step to avoid the worsening climate catastrophe. From the acidization of the seas, to the recent droughts in the midwest, to super storms such as Sandy, to the streak of 336th consecutive months that global temperatures have risen above 20th century averages, our civilization is in peril and we must act, now! There is a movement, spearheaded by gofossilfree.org, on over 300 college and university campuses across the nation calling for fossil fuel divestment. Four schools have already commited to divest and more are sure to soon follow suit. Yet students cannot be the only ones leading the fight for a just and sustainable future, our local governments must join the phalanx confronting our would be destroyers, the fossil fuel corporations such as Exxon-Mobil, British Petrolium, and Shell. Our governments must recognize them as the most abhorrent villans in the ongoing tragedy of the commons. The City of Los Angeles must not profit from the devastation of its citizens, currently enduring ailments from cancer and asthma. The City of Los Angeles must divest its holdings from the 200 companies listed in the Carbon Tracker report "Unburnable Carbon." Divestment in Los Angeles is not without precedent. The boards of our public pension plans have addressed divestment from South African securities, tobacco stock, and the securities of firms conducting business in Sudan and Iran. The boards adopted a Sudan policy in March of 2007, a policy addressing social, political and human rights issues in May of 2007, and and Iran policy in April 2010. They are currently considering a divestment from firearms related securities. The suffering to human health and well-being caused by fossil fuel companies is in no way less noxious than the crimes of the entities from which Los Angeles has previously divested. Additionally, the divestment from fossil fuel stock is in accord with stated fiduciary duties and applies a "costlessness" standard. 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!

  564 of 600 Signatures

  Created by Peter Nichols
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  Washington: Divest from Fossil Fuels!

  Our children and their children will not be able to reverse global warming unless we stop investing in fossil fuel companies. Until we divest from fossil fuel companies they will continue exploring for new oil and coal and gas, even though we have more than enough now to cook the planet 5 times over. We can't safely burn more than a few years worth of fossil fuels at the rate we are going, and once enough people understand the science and connect the dots with droughts, fires, heat waves, storms, sea level rise, poverty and disease, water shortages, economic instability, war and famine, these companies won't make sense as a long-term financial investment anyway, much less as a moral one. We are investing in our own destruction. Our seniors will not want to retire on money held in fossil fuel companies when we see the growing impacts and suffering that we have caused through those companies.

  1,046 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Michael Foster
• New York
  

  Divest New York City from Fossil Fuels!

  Hurricane Sandy decimated the New York City area, causing $65 billion in damage, causing power outages, destroying homes and leaving a path of wreckage from the Rockaways to Riverside Park. It's time for NYC to stop investing our pension funds in oil, gas and coal, and go fossil free! We know that Sandy was fueled in part by Atlantic waters that were 5 degrees warmer than average, a result of human-induced climate change. Our city government is taking steps to make our city an example of low-carbon urban living, from painting bike lanes to mandating energy retrofits -- and much much more must be done. And yet, New York City's pension funds for city employees, teachers, police, firemen and school employees are all invested in coal, oil and gas companies that dump carbon into the atmosphere for free, and rig the political system so that they can continue to do so. If it is wrong to wreck the climate, then it is wrong to profit from that wreckage. After Hurricane Sandy, New York City should be a shining light in the fight to combat climate change -- to do that, it's pension funds must divest from fossil fuels. A report from the Carbon Tracker Initiative has claimed that the world can only burn 800 more gigatonnes of carbon equivalent and stay under the two degree Celsius limit. A recent analysis of the world's current fossil fuel reserves, drawing on research by Oil Change International, has shown that if the world were to burn all current fossil fuel resources, then it would burn 982 gigatonnes of carbon equivalent. This means that we can no longer develop and build fossil fuel infrastructure; the age of fossil fuels must end immediately, if we have any hope of staying under two degrees Celsius. Our pension funds must follow suit and knowing that there can be no world in which the fossil fuel companies persist, we call upon New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer to commit to immediately freeze all investments in fossil fuel companies and divest the pension funds from these companies within five years. Read more about the need to divest and end all fossil fuel infrastructure here https://newrepublic.com/article/136987/recalculating-climate-math Over 3000 people from New York City have signed petitions calling upon Comptroller Stringer to divest the New York City pension funds from all fossil fuel holdings. To get involved in the campaign, go to 350nyc.org

  4,370 of 5,000 Signatures

  Created by Nathan Schumer
• Portland
  

  Divest Portland from Fossil Fuels!

  Divestment from fossil fuel companies is a signal that the people of Portland are ready to take a stand for the good of the planet. If it is wrong to wreck the climate, then it is wrong to profit from that wreckage. Portland should be a shining light in the fight to combat climate change -- to do that, the city must freeze and divest from fossil fuels. One city divesting from these stocks and funds can help build the momentum as other local governments, colleges, universities and institutions shift away from fossil fuels. Together, we can send a signal that the fossil fuel companies' future value is in doubt, that the world is ready to shift to an economy powered by renewable energy. As a proudly progressive city, Portland should be leading this charge.

  1,173 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Kevin Fitzgerald