50 signatures reached
To: Lucy Cavendish College
Divest Lucy Cavendish College From Fossil Fuels
Commitment to divest from the fossil fuel companies BP, Royal Dutch Shell and BHP Billiton within 3 years.
Commitment not to invest in companies listed on the Carbon Underground 200.
Commitment to reinvest in ethical assets that comply with environmental principles agreed upon in consultation with members of Lucy Cavendish College.
Transparency of future investments according to principles agreed upon in consultation with members of Lucy Cavendish College.
Why is this important?
Climate change is the most pressing problem of our time and fossil fuel companies cause a significant share of global carbon emissions. Hence, the transition to renewable energy resources is one of the most important steps to keep the global temperature-increase under the 2 degrees limit of the Paris Convention and is closely connected to investment policies.
The social and environmental consequences of climate change are unequally distributed across the globe and among individuals. Investments legitimise the activities of fossil fuel companies that are related to complicity in human rights violations and environmental disasters. Divestment of the fossil fuel industry reflects the progressive values that Lucy Cavendish College aims to represent.
The Guardian’s recent revelations* expose the influence of the fossil fuel lobby on the University’s decision to reject divestment last year. Lucy Cavendish College can, in accordance with its progressive values, express its disapproval of the collusion between the fossil fuel industry and the University of Cambridge by divesting.
Investments in fossil fuel companies are economically unreliable because of volatile share prices. This is because such companies in the fossil fuel industry attract public scrutiny for their complicity in human rights violations and environmental disasters. Further, there is a volatile market-evaluation of natural resources. In the long run, this evaluation is expected to decrease significantly because of more efficient renewable energy sources and a decrease of the profitability of the fossil fuel industry. Divestment is feasible as fossil free funds have been shown to perform on par with or better than conventional investments.