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  • Stop investing Brighton and Hove's Pension Fund in fossil fuels
    Burning fossil fuels (oil, coal & gas) - which releases the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into the atmosphere - is the main driver of climate change. Massive reductions in carbon emissions will be necessary before 2030 if the world’s governments are to follow through on their stated commitment (‘the Paris agreement’) to hold global warming to ‘well below’ 2ºC, 'pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5º C. Failure to do so would be truly disastrous. In particular, the vast majority of proven reserves of fossil fuels will have to remain in the ground unburnt. Yet despite this, in 2019 the oil and gas industries were forecast to spend $4.9 trillion over the next decade on new oil and gas fields - none of which is compatible with limiting warming to 1.5°C. As of 31 December 2020, the East Sussex Pension Fund – the local government pension scheme for East Sussex, Brighton and Hove - had £76.4 million of local people's pensions invested in fossil fuels. These investments not only threaten the climate, but also pose a significant financial danger to the Fund. In 2015 the then-Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, warned that investors in these fossil fuels faced ‘potentially huge’ losses from climate change action that could make vast reserves of oil, coal and gas ‘literally unburnable’. After coal demand peaked in 2014, UK public pension funds lost nearly a billion dollars as the value of their coal investments plummeted. Oil and gas are next. And the East Sussex Pension Fund's policy of ‘engaging’ with fossil fuel companies simply isn’t working. Indeed, despite many years of such ‘engagement’ not a single major fossil fuel company has yet re-aligned its business model with a 2ºC world, let alone a 1.5ºC one. And there are no precedents for a company changing its core business model following pressure from shareholders. By getting institutions like the East Sussex Pension Fund to publicly commit to divesting from fossil fuels, we can help to undermine the political power of the fossil fuel companies that continue to block effective action on climate change by the world’s governments. It’s time to divest from fossil fuels. Who supports divesting the East Sussex Pension Fund? - Maria Caulfield, Conservative MP for Lewes - Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion - Hastings Borough Council - Brighton & Hove City Council - Lewes District Council - Lewes Town Council - UNISON (the public service union) What else can I do? (a) Tell your friends, family and workmates about the campaign and ask them to sign the petition; (b) If you use social media then follow the campaign on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/divesteastsussex] and / or Twitter [https://twitter.com/DivestEast] and share our posts; (c) If you're a member of the Pension Fund then please sign this petition to ESCC, calling on it to divest the Pension Fund from fossil fuels: https://tinyurl.com/memberspetition. The Council has claimed that 'There’s no evidence that most [East Sussex Pension Fund] members or other stakeholders consider divestment from fossil fuel companies a pressing issue ...' Help prove them wrong! You can also send a short message to the Chair of the East Sussex Pension Committee, the decision-making body for the Fund, using this adaptable template: https://act.350.org/letter/eastsussex
    10 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Rob Noyes
  • FULLY DIVEST LSE FROM FOSSIL FUELS
    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.
    1,017 of 2,000 Signatures
    Created by Collective of environmentally conscious LSE students
  • Go Fossil Free! NKU
    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.
    106 of 200 Signatures
    Created by James Renton
  • Connecticut College: Go Fossil Free!
    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 Connecticut College 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 Connecticut College 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.
    25 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Kate McAlaine
  • Devon County Council - Divest from Fossil Fuels
    Pensions are about giving us a secure future. But our future security is fundamentally threatened by climate change. Our pension funds should not be invested in oil, gas and coal companies when we know we must leave 80% of all fossil fuels in the ground to avoid catastrophic climate change. Our local authorities have a duty to look after the public good. Fossil fuels are in direct conflict with the public good: investing in them poses a risk both to pension members and to the planet. So Devon County Council should 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. Divestment from fossil fuels would make a powerful statement that the fossil fuel industry is morally and economically unviable, and that the people of Devon wish to support an alternative, sustainable energy future that will leave the planet in a shape that allows us, our children and grandchildren to live safely on it. ... updated July 2021
    622 of 800 Signatures
    Created by Maurice Spurway
  • DivestSurrey
    Right now the Surrey Pension Fund has around £90 million invested directly in climate wrecking fossil fuels despite the efforts of our DivestSurrey campaign and many similar campaign groups across Surrey to persuade them to divest. Thousands of people across the country are asking why local authority pension funds such as ours in Surrey deem it acceptable to fund companies like BP who have a committed £41 billion looking for new fossil fuel reserves over the next decade. It is absolutely senseless! Help us persuade the Surrey Pension Fund to remove these investments by signing up to our campaign. Many thanks Steve McDonald
    756 of 800 Signatures
    Created by Steve McDonald
  • Members of East Sussex Pension Fund Call for Divestment!
    Burning fossil fuels (oil, coal & gas) is the main driver of climate change. Massive reductions in carbon emissions will be necessary before 2030 if the world’s governments are to follow through on their stated commitment (‘the Paris agreement’) to hold global warming to ‘well below’ 2ºC. Failure to do so would be truly disastrous. In particular, the vast majority of proven reserves of fossil fuels will have to remain in the ground unburnt. Yet despite this, in 2019 the oil and gas industries were forecast to spend $4.9 trillion over the next decade on new oil and gas fields - none of which is compatible with limiting warming to 1.5°C. As of 31 December 2020, the East Sussex Pension Fund – the local government pension scheme for East Sussex, Brighton and Hove - had £76.4 million of local people's pensions invested in fossil fuels. These investments not only threaten the climate, but also pose a significant financial danger to the Fund. In 2015 the then-Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, warned that investors in these fossil fuels faced ‘potentially huge’ losses from climate change action that could make vast reserves of oil, coal and gas ‘literally unburnable’. After coal demand peaked in 2014, UK public pension funds lost nearly a billion dollars as the value of their coal investments plummeted. Oil and gas are next. And the Council’s policy of ‘engaging’ with fossil fuel companies simply isn’t working. Indeed, despite many years of such ‘engagement’ not a single major oil company has yet re-aligned its business model with a 2ºC world, let alone a 1.5ºC one. And there are no precedents for a company changing its core business model following pressure from shareholders. By getting institutions like the East Sussex Pension Fund to publicly commit to divesting from fossil fuels, we can help to undermine the political power of the fossil fuel companies that continue to block effective action on climate change by the world’s governments. It’s time to divest from fossil fuels. Who supports divesting the East Sussex Pension Fund? - Maria Caulfield, Conservative MP for Lewes - Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion - Hastings Borough Council - Brighton & Hove City Council - Lewes District Council - Lewes Town Council - UNISON (the public service union) What else can I do? (a) The Council has claimed that 'There’s no evidence that most [East Sussex Pension Fund] members or other stakeholders consider divestment from fossil fuel companies a pressing issue ...' Help prove them wrong by sending a short message to the Chair of the East Sussex Pension Committee, the decision-making body for the Fund. You can do this using our template text (which you can adapt as you see fit) here: https://act.350.org/letter/eastsussex (b) Tell your friends, family and workmates about the campaign (c) If you use social media then follow us on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/divesteastsussex] and / or Twitter [https://twitter.com/DivestEast] and share our posts. (c) If you live of work in Brighton or Hove then please also sign this petition to East Sussex County Council demanding that Brighton and Hove City Council (BHCC) be granted adequate representation on the Pension Committee that controls the Fund (it currently has no representation at all): https://tinyurl.com/bhccrepresentation
    2 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Rob Noyes
  • Suffolk County Council: Divest from fossil fuel
    Suffolk County Council says it wants to be the “Greenest county” yet its latest pension fund figures (September 2015) showed it had £11 million worth of Shell shares – 5% of its total holding in UK shares. Campaign groups estimate that in 2014 it held in total £117 million worth of fossil fuel assets. [1] All local authorities in Suffolk contribute to this pension fund, including Ipswich Borough Council, Waveney District Council, Suffolk Coastal District Council, St Edmundsbury Borough Council, Mid Suffolk District Council, Forest Heath District Council and Babergh District Council Investing in fossil fuel creates a risk both to members of the pension fund and to the planet. Respected financial analysts warn that fossil fuel companies are likely to be over-valued due to their reliance on reserves in the ground which will become worthless if carbon legislation comes into effect. [2] Only a fraction of fossil fuel companies' reserves may be extracted and burned whilst keeping within the 2°C climatic warming target agreed by the world's Governments at international climate negotiations. [3] Suffolk should sell its fossil fuel investments and follow the example of several other local authorities who have invested cash in local sustainable projects such renewable energy, energy efficiency or building much needed energy efficient social homes. This blog by Friends of the Earth Scotland gives some examples. http://www.blog.foe-scotland.org.uk/index.php/2015/06/6-local-governments/ This would provide local jobs, a stronger local economy and reliable long term, low risk returns for the pension fund. [1] http://gofossilfree.org/uk/pensions/ [2] http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/apr/19/carbon-bubble-financial-crash-crisis [3] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30709211
    632 of 800 Signatures
    Created by Anna Gretton
  • Fossilfria Pengar vid Mittuniversitetet
    English below Divest MIUN Mittuniversitetet Östersund har flera program och kurser som förbereder den kommande generationen för klimatförändring. En av bygnaderna har ett tak som är fullt med solpaneler och kafeterian servera vegetarisk mat. Forskning kring ämnet finns. Universitetets vision stämmer redan med klimatförändringsfrågan. Östersunds kommun har bestämt att divestera. Men det är fortfarande ett krav att Miun Östersund är en del av att försöka lösa problemet lika mycket som att och sluta vara en del av det. Genom divestering kan vi reducera klimatförändringens oförväntade effekter och utveckla universitets ekonomiska framtid på ett hållbart sätt. Därför kräver vi att universitetet ska minska och över tid avbryta alla fossila investeringar och vara mer transparent i sin ekonomi. Som studenter, personal, alumni, representater och aktieägare av universitetet, tror vi att kostnaden som uppstår är en värdefull investering i vår gemensamma framtid, en förbättring av bilden av Mittuniviversitet och ekonomisk stabilitet. ------ Divest MIUN Mittuniversitet has several programs and courses which prepare the next generation for addressing the issues of climate change. A building's roof is covered in solar panels and the local cafeteria has among other options a daily vegetarian choice. Research is being carried out in the field. The general sentiment is that the university's vision is aligned with the issue of climate change. The municipality of Östersund has already decided to divest. However, it is as necessary that Mittuniversitet Östersund is a part of the solution as it stops being a part of the problem. By taking a proactive approach this institution can reduce the undesirable effects of changing the world's climate and create a more sustainable economic future for itself. Therefore, we demand that the institution wind down all it's investments into fossil fuels and becomes transparent with their economic policy. As students, staff, alumni, representatives, and shareholders of this university, we believe divesting is a worthwhile investment into our common future, the image of the university, and its financial stability.
    51 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Vartan Ahrens
  • Petition to Divest Case Western Reserve University From Fossil Fuels
    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.
    404 of 500 Signatures
    Created by Jack Turner