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  Divest Tower Hamlets

  Tower Hamlets Council currently has an estimated £91,764,000 invested in fossil fuel companies. This represents 8.76% of their fund. Ethically, environmentally and economically, there is no justification for such holdings. These investments directly undermine Tower Hamlets' own commitment to 60% reduction in carbon emissions by 2020 [2] as they are directly fueling ever riskier, costlier forms of extraction, which no longer represent the relatively bankable return they have been historically as the fossil fuel energy market grows ever more volatile. Climate change is the greatest crisis humanity has ever faced. The 20 hottest years on record have all occurred since 1981 and 2014 was the hottest ever [3] with 2015 on course to take that unenviable title [4]. Higher average temperatures are directly linked to extreme weather events such as intensified heatwaves; longer more arid droughts; wilder forest fires; stronger, more frequent storms and the resultant flooding; and glacier melt has increased drastically, which not only means rising sea-levels but more of the suns rays being absorbed rather than reflected back, causing a further increase in temperatures. Climate change does not just manifest itself in these ever worsening weather patterns. A recent study [5] attributed the record 2007 - 2010 drought in Syria as a reason for farmers abandoning their land for the city, where their presence has been a major factor in the social unrest that led to the war that has ravaged the country ever since [6]. We now see this being played out in the form of the humanitarian and political crises with which Europe is now struggling to cope. Such events are only going to increase as our shared world becomes hotter and drier. National borders are meaningless in the face of hostile weather. Moreover, worsening levels of air pollution are now regarded as a major world killer [7]. In Tower Hamlets an estimated 138 people a year die as a result of air pollution [8]. At the core of all these problems is the burning of fossil fuels. Scientists have unanimously concluded that these changes are a consequence of human activity, arising from the burning of fossil fuels [9]. The fossil fuel industry have taken a threefold approach to this. Firstly, they have spent significant amounts of money to create a body of disruptive disinformation campaigns that undermine climate science in the minds of the general public [10]. Secondly, they have created a lobbying juggernaut to flatten any political efforts to limit global warming [11]. Thirdly, they have expanded their business practice to focus on ever riskier, costlier and ultimately more disastrous extraction methods such as fracking and deep-water drilling; the latter having led to the largest marine oil spill in history [12]. If it is wrong to continue to wreck the Earth’s climate, then it follows that it is wrong to profit from that wreckage. There are also increasing indications that the profitability of the fossil fuel industry will decrease significantly in coming years. If action is taken to limit global warming and a large degree of carbon reserves are left in the ground, shares in fossil fuel companies will drop significantly in value [13]. As such, pension funds currently investing in fossil fuels risk exposure to this 'carbon bubble', while there is already evidence that fossil fuel-free portfolios are capable of out-performing those including fossil fuel investments [14]. For in depth analyses of these and related risks, see: http://gofossilfree.org/frequently-asked-questions/ http://www.carbontracker.org/ http://www.theguardian.com/environment/fossil-fuel-divestment 'Do The Math' documentary: https://youtu.be/KuCGVwJIRd0 References [1] http://fossilfreeindexes.com/research/the-carbon-underground/ [2] http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgnl/environment_and_planning/sustainability/carbon_reduction.aspx [3] http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/summary-info/global/201412 [4] http://www.weather.com/news/climate/news/earth-warmest-january-may-2015 [5] http://www.pnas.org/content/112/11/3241 [6] http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/03/150302-syria-war-climate-change-drought/ [7] http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2014/air-pollution/en/ [8] http://www.itv.com/news/london/2015-07-15/londons-toxic-air-how-is-your-london-borough-affected/ [9] http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/syr/ar4_syr_spm.pdf [10] http://www.fossilfreemit.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/FossilFreeMIT-Lobbying-Disinformation.pdf [11] http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/25/fossil-fuel-firms-are-still-bankrolling-climate-denial-lobby-groups [12] http://www.britannica.com/event/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill-of-2010 [13] http://www.carbontracker.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Unburnable-Carbon-Full-rev2-1.pdf [14] https://www.msci.com/resources/factsheets/index_fact_sheet/msci-acwi-ex-fossil-fuels-index-gbp-gross.pdf

  604 of 800 Signatures

  Created by Patrick McFadden
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  DivestSurrey

  Many organisations and individuals are now choosing to divest from the fossil fuel industry. They feel that to seek financial returns from a business whose activities are moving us nearer to catastrophic climate change and its consequences does not fit in with their own social and ethical objectives. The Surrey Pension Fund has £105 million invested in fossil fuels, £3million of that in Canadian Tar Sands, the most polluting of all fossil fuel businesses.

  328 of 400 Signatures

  Created by Steve McDonald
• Divest West Midlands Pension Fund From Fossil Fuels

  Climate change is already causing massive destruction around the world. For the sake of all of our futures, we need to move away from fossil fuels and begin the transition to a clean and just energy economy, now. Many of the fossil fuel companies that West Midlands Pension Fund invests in have a poor environmental record, including ExxonMobil. ExxonMobil, the world's largest oil company, spilled 11 million gallons of oil off the coast of Alaska and plans to drill in the Russian Arctic with Rosneft. BP, another West Midlands Pension Fund investment, was responsible for the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico. Fossil fuel companies are also highly overvalued due to the assumption that all of their reserves will be burnt. But as policy catches up to climate realities, this overvaluation means there’s a multi-trillion dollar “carbon bubble” that’s poised to burst. This will greatly effect the value of our pensions if West Midlands continues to invest in fossil fuels. We know that 80% of current fossil fuel reserves must stay in the ground to prevent runaway climate change. We must act now!

  501 of 600 Signatures

  Created by Kay Edwards
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  Stop Barclays Funding Fossil Fuels

  If we’re serious about preventing catastrophic warming we can’t dig any new coal mines, drill any new fields, build any more pipelines. Not a single one. We can't stand by and watch as Sioux Native American's stopping a pipeline are pepper sprayed, Tasered, attacked with dogs and arrested, by police in tanks. We can't wait for the Tories frack under our homes and National Parks. Despite ongoing resistance from Sioux Native Americans and allies militarized police continue protect companies laying the North Dakota Access Pipeline. Despite thousands of objections and sustained local and national pressure, Third Energy have just been given the green light to frack in Ryedale, North Yorkshire. These projects are front lines of the battle to keep fossil fuels in the ground We can't let these projects go ahead. Barclays funds both these projects and have £15,653 million of assets in oil, gas and coal extraction globally.

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  Created by Andrew Taylor
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  Divest the Nobel Foundation from fossil fuels

  We love Nobel. We love how it’s awards celebrate the greatest achievements of, and for, mankind. But there is one thing we do not love; its investments in the fossil fuel industry, which are driving climate change. We therefore call on the Nobel Foundation to commit to divest from fossil fuels. Why is this important? Climate change is the greatest challenge humanity has encountered. Warming in excess of 1.5°C will have catastrophic consequences [1]. In order to have a chance of staying below this temperature rise, 80% of known fossil fuel reserves must stay in the ground [2]. The fossil fuel industry currently holds vast carbon reserves which if burnt would result in emissions 5 times larger than that which is scientifically deemed to be safe [2]. All available evidence suggests that fossil fuel companies intend to burn the reserves within their control. In addition, companies such as Shell are actively trying to discover new reserves, often in environmentally sensitive regions. If it is wrong to damage the world we live in, then it is wrong to profit from that damage. Responsible investors should no longer be profiting from the destructive activities of these companies. And especially not the Nobel Foundation, which aims to highlight work done for the benefit of mankind. Fossil fuel investments are becoming increasingly risky as the cost of extraction increases and international treaties restrict the use of fossil fuels [2]. Not only does it make moral sense not to invest in the destruction of our planet, it also makes financial sense. By divesting from fossil fuels, the Nobel Foundation will join institutions such as Stockholm University and city and The Rockefeller Brothers Fund amongst many others [3], in leading by example to help create a sustainable future for our world. References [1] https://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/syr/AR5_SYR_FINAL_SPM.pdf [2] http://www.carbontracker.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Unburnable-Carbon-Full-rev2-1.pdf [3] http://gofossilfree.org/commitments/

  1,639 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Andrew Maunder
• Wiltshire Council: divest from fossil fuel

  Wiltshire Pension Fund holds a total of £1.8 billion, of which – currently - £64 million (3.5 per cent) is invested in fossil fuel – oil, coal and gas companies. This percentage may rise and fall. Wiltshire Pension Fund operates on behalf of Wiltshire Council and a further 157 employer organisations. Investment in fossil fuel is bad news for two reasons. Firstly, experts (1) warn these investments could become 'stranded assets' and irrecoverable, when the market for fossil fuels begin to decline in the years ahead. All local authorities, including Wiltshire Council, have a duty to act in the public interest, and to take steps to reduce risk to public money. Secondly, fossil fuel investment is a matter of right or wrong. More than 80 per cent of the world’s known coal reserves need to stay in the ground to avoid dangerous climate change, recent research (2) has indicated. The scientific and political consensus is that we must not allow global warming to exceed two degrees. If all known reserves are used we will exceed this limit, and tip into runaway climate change. This means extreme weather events, sea-level rise, fires and floods. Local impacts of fossil fuel dependence The Environment Agency and Salisbury City Council are drawing up emergency plans to protect Salisbury from ‘freak floods’, noting that the city came within 1cm of a major flood last January (3). Extreme weather events will cause severe flooding in Salisbury, and knock-on effects across Wiltshire, due to, for example, impassable roads and damage to communications systems (4). A further direct impact of fossil fuel dependence is disease caused by air pollution from traffic emissions. Salisbury Clean Air Network reported in March 2015 that nitrogen dioxide was at illegal levels in ten out of 25 of SCAN’s samples. This was a higher and more widespread pollution level than Council findings. Government data (Public Health England, 2010) indicated that air pollution causes 28,000 excess deaths in the UK per annum. If it’s wrong to cause these harms, then it is wrong to profit from investing in what causes them. Wiltshire Pension Fund should sell its fossil fuel investments and Wiltshire Council should follow the example of several other local authorities who have invested in local sustainable projects such renewable energy, energy efficiency or building much needed energy-efficient social homes. References: 1. Unburnable Carbon – Are the world’s financial markets carrying a carbon bubble? Carbon Tracker Initiative, March 2012 http://www.carbontracker.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Unburnable-Carbon-Full-rev2-1.pdf ‘No more than one-third of proven reserves of fossil fuels can be consumed prior to 2050 if the world is to achieve the 2 °C goal, unless carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology is widely deployed.’ World Energy Outlook 2012, International Energy Agency ‘The issue of the bubble arises because the combined proven oil, gas and coal reserves currently on the books of fossil fuel companies (and governments in the case of NOCs) will produce far more than this amount of CO2 when consumed’, David Hone, Climate Change Advisor for Shell 3 May 2013 ‘We agree that burning all known reserves would probably cause global temperatures to rise by more than 2°C – and that addressing this issue will require the efforts of governments, industry and individuals. However, we believe that the unburnable carbon approach to assessing the impact of potential climate regulation on a company’s value oversimplifies the complexity of the issue and overstates the potential financial impact’ BP webpage on climate change, accessed 17 Oct 2015 2. The geographical distribution of fossil fuels unused when limiting global warming to 2 °C, McGlade, C, Ekins, P, Nature 517,187–190, 8 January 2015 3. Salisbury Journal, 1 October 2015. 4. Environment Agency advice to Salisbury City Councillors and volunteer Flood Wardens, 9 November 2015.

  274 of 300 Signatures

  Created by Alison Craig
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  Divest East Sussex Pension Fund from Fossil Fuels

  Our local authority has a responsibility not to invest local people's funds in outdated, polluting industries, such as fossil fuels (oil, coal and gas), that are damaging the balance of our climate and threatening our way of life. Already, we are seeing a greater frequency of extreme weather events, such as the floods of 2013/14 – the wettest winter in England and Wales since 1776 - which caused severe flooding in East Sussex and exposed our coast to very high storm surges from the sea. Investments in fossil fuels are also financially risky. Global temperature targets agreed by world leaders can only be met if most of the existing fossil fuel reserves remain unburned and we quickly move to cleaner technology. This means that investments in fossil fuel companies could soon become ‘stranded assets’. Indeed, the Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, has warned that investors face 'potentially huge' losses from climate change action that could make vast reserves of oil, coal and gas 'literally unburnable' For reasons of both public responsibility and financial prudence, a growing number of major institutions across the world - including the cities of Oslo, Seattle, and Oxford, Glasgow University, and the World Council of Churches - have already decided to move their funds out of fossil fuels. Several UK local authorities, including Haringey Council and the South Yorkshire Pension Fund, are now taking similar steps. The East Sussex Pension Fund has an estimated £172 million of local people's pensions invested in fossil fuels. The Fund is administered by East Sussex County Council. On 13 April 2016, Labour and Conservative Councillors on Hastings Borough Council – a member of the Pension Fund - joined forces to pass a unanimous motion calling on East Sussex County Council to divest the Fund from fossil fuels. It's time for East Sussex County Council to divest local people's pensions from these dirty, damaging and financially risky industries.

  1,677 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Divest East Sussex
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  SUSSEX UNIVERSITY DIVESTMENT CAMPAIGN

  According to the most recent projections, the world is headed on a course to global warming of 4 degrees by the end of this century if we carry on emitting CO2 at current rates. [1] It is clear that fossil fuels are not the way forward, and that we must end our addiction to carbon and find sustainable energy alternatives before it is too late. Despite this, 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 some of the most profitable companies in the world. The University of Sussex is renowned as a progressive institution, and we believe that the University should lead by example and join dozens of other universities, religious institutions and local governments across the world that have already committed to investing its money ethically, and going fossil free. Collectively, we have the opportunity to send an important signal to our governments and the private sector about the urgent moral and financial imperative of phasing out fossil fuels.

  2,023 of 3,000 Signatures

  Created by Rachel Mohun
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  University of Exeter Fossil Free Campaign

  JPMorgan Chase is one of the worlds largest investment banks and as such has its fingers in a great many pots. Unfortunately some of these pots come with some truly terrible baggage, from fossil fuels to animal testing JPMorgan invests in them all. This sadly includes being the US's largest share holders in PetroChina, a company which has been widely recognized and condemned for helping finance genocide in Sudan. That means in a single company your tuition fees have direct connections to both the worsening of Climate Change and a Genocide that stills claims more than 100 lives every day. For a University to profit from any of these causes is wrong beyond belief but to be involved in all of them and more is a complete catastrophe. By signing you are telling the University that this cannot continue and that you support the campaign for not just a Fossil Free Exeter but an Ethically Invested Exeter as well.

  608 of 800 Signatures

  Created by Robin Ellis-Cockcroft
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  University of Reading to go Fossil Free #UoRFossilFree

  Recently, charities and corporations alike have come under fire in relation to their investments in the top two hundred coal, oil and gas companies worldwide. It is our belief that the University of Reading, as an academic institution within the top 1% of universities in the world, needs to take a lead on divestment. It would allow the University of Reading to set a strong precedent for being ethical and sustainable when making investment choices. The current investment practices of the University are inconsistent with the institution's Environmental Policy, which states that it ‘takes environmental responsibilities seriously’ and commits to ‘achieving the highest standards of environmental performance, preventing pollution and minimising the impact of its operations’. If the University is committed to working towards increased sustainability in its activities then this approach should be reflected in its investments. This is why RUSU wants the University to take a sector lead on adopting a Socially Responsible Investments Policy. If you're interested in the campaign, please read our document 'Why the University of Reading needs to adopt a Socially Responsible Investments Policy' as well as checking out our Facebook page. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1EpAf9F0ADhclFWM3BwV2VpaFk/view - Why the University need to adopt a Socially Responsible Investments Policy. https://www.facebook.com/FossilizedFees Join our Facebook page!

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  Created by Chloe Bartlett