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  • Divest Cornwall
    Watch this brilliant one and half minute film explaining the petition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa8CBI-dltE Further background information: 195 nations have agreed (at COP21 in Paris, December 2015) that to increase global temperatures beyond 2 degrees celsius would be CATASTROPHIC. This means dramaticly cutting our our carbon emissions, and keeping most of the known fossil fuels in the ground - Watch this for the IMPERATIVENESS of the situation: "Do the Math" at http://math.350.org/ bear, and this "Al Gore, Why I am optimistic about Climate Change" at https://www.ted.com/talks/al_gore_the_case_for_optimism_on_climate_change for an injection of impetus! Quite apart from the moral imperative to look after the planet that is our home (and that of the children of all species - not just our own!) Fossil fuel investments are losing value, and, according to many analysts, are on the verge of haemoraging. The governor of the Bank Of England has suggested divesting from fossil fuels as a wise financial move, and the Rockefeller foundation - founded upon fossil fuels, recently announced that they are divesting. "The leading argument by financial analysts is that, with emerging regulation to curb global temperature increases and growing competition from low-carbon energy sources, there is a real risk of “stranded assets” and “unburnable carbon”. “Stranded assets“, as coined by the Carbon Tracker Initiative, refers to assets that lose their value or turn into liabilities before the end of their economic life cycle. Such an outcome is expected of much of the world’s fossil fuel reserves, a large percentage of which is said to be unburnable (over 80% of coal, 50% of gas and 30% of oil) if we are to stay within the 2°C globally agreed threshold." From: http://www.blog.clientearth.org/why-pension-fund-trustees-must-consider-climate-risk/ ______ To grasp the seriousness of the climate crisis, you just need to do a little maths: Fossil fuel corporations have 5 times more oil, coal and gas in known reserves than the most conservative climate scientists think is safe to burn. Therefore we have to keep at least 80% of their fossil fuels underground to keep the earth in anything resembling livable shape. Despite this fact, fossil fuel companies continue to explore for more fossil fuels because, with our current economic system, the amount of reserves they have determines their share value. This exploration is potentially devastating for the environments where it occurs - imagine the DeepWater Horizon disaster in the hostile and treacherous seas of the Arctic - a scenario the US government gives a 75% chance of occuring. or the total devastation of Canada's Tar sand fields in Lancashire... By selling off their shares in fossil fuel companies, large institutions, like Cornwall Council, can use their financial clout to prevent such exploration from occurring, and help to keep the "oil in the soil, and the coal in the hole" If you want more detail: at current levels of Carbon dioxide emission, we have less than 15 years before crossing a dangerous threshold (2 degree celsius rise in global temperature) that almost every government in the world has agreed would be unsafe. We humans have already raised the temperature .8°C with the carbon dioxide already emitted, and that has caused far more damage than most scientists expected. A third of summer sea ice in the Arctic is gone, the oceans are 30 percent more acidic, and since warm air holds more water vapor than cold, the climate dice are loaded for both devastating floods and drought. Scientists estimate that humans can pour roughly 565 more gigatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and still have some reasonable hope of staying below two degrees. Computer models calculate that even if we stopped increasing CO2 levels now, the temperature would still rise another 0.8 degrees above the 0.8 we’ve already warmed, which means that we’re already 3/4s of the way to the 2 degree limit. For much greater detail - see the film "Do the Math" at http://math.350.org/
    398 of 400 Signatures
    Created by David SmartKnight
  • Divest Strathclyde Pension Fund from fossil fuel investments
    Fossil fuels - coal, oil and gas - are the main drivers of climate change. In order to keep climate change at bay, we need to halt our extractions of fossil fuels, and must break our public institutions' financials ties with the fossil fuel industry. During the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21), in Paris in December, 2015, 196 Nations agreed to keep global warming well below 2°C and attempt to “limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees”. This is a turning point for the energy industry since fossil fuels will need to be phased out, and there needs to be a shift towards clean energy in order to achieve the target of zero net emissions by 2050. The outcome of the Paris agreement has thus drawn a critical line for the fossil fuel industry: to prevent a temperature rise over 2°C, 80 % of existing fossil fuel reserves MUST stay underground. Currently, Strathclyde Pension Fund (SPF) holds almost £20 billion in total investments, of which over £802 million are currently invested into the fossil fuel industry. [1] It delivers to over 222,0000 members and more than 180 organisations from 12 local authorities that are included in the former Strathclyde Area. The SPF has stated that their ‘"traditional approach to responsible investment has been, by and large, top-down - ensuring that environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) concerns in our portfolios are recognised and addressed". Yet, the fund is still deeply invested in the main drivers for climate change and social injustice. We call on SPF's immediate freeze of new investments into fossil fuel industries as well as divestment of all current holdings in it. By doing so, SPF would show their ethical and financial responsibility to their members and join 852 public institutions and councils across the world, including Derby, South Yorkshire and Oxford City Councils, Monmouthshire County Council, the City of New York, the Universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, UWS and Glasgow Caledonian, The British Medical Association and the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund. [2] As the environmentalist, Bill McGibbon, says: "If it’s wrong to wreck the planet, then it’s wrong to profit from that wreckage." Thank you for your support, and please share this petition to allow for more people to sign. [1] https://foe.scot/resource/councils-fuelling-fire/ [2] https://gofossilfree.org/divestment/commitments/ [3] https://gofossilfree.org/do-the-math-fossil-fuel-investments-add-up-to-climate-chaos/
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    Created by Fossil Free Glasgow Picture
  • Newham Council, Divest from Fossil Fuels
    The London Borough of Newham has multiple investments in the fossil fuel industry. Fossil fuels contribute to the rise of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. Scientists agree that we must reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in order to halt excessive global warming. Climate change has already resulted in more instances of extreme weather, rising sea levels and melting ice glaciers. The Paris Climate agreement of 2015 committed to keeping the global temperature increase to below 2 degrees celsius (above pre-industrial levels). In order to honour this agreement, we must move the flow of finance away from fossil fuel industries, one of the highest contributors of carbon emissions. Taking money out of these companies will make it much more difficult for them to continue damaging the environment.
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    Created by Louis Martin
  • 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.
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    Created by Alison Craig
  • 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.
    5,650 of 6,000 Signatures
    Created by Divest East Sussex
  • Fossil Free Merseyside Local Government Divestment Campaign
    Climate change is the biggest threat to the future of our global society. Research carried out by Bill McKibben and 350.org has identified that fossil fuel companies declared reserves far exceed the amount that can be safely burned if we are to limit Co² in the atmosphere to a level that will keep projected temperature rises to within 2°C. 2°C was the “safe” level of temperature rises agreed at the Copenhagen Climate talks and that figure was based on the overwhelming scientific consensus among climate scientists. To keep temperature rises below 2°C we need to limit the amount of Co² we emit and that means that 80% of the declared reserves of the largest 200 fossil fuel companies cannot be burned. Temperature rises above 2°C will have devastating consequences for people, societies and eco-systems around the world. There are moral reasons to divest. If business as usual means investing in an industry that will have devastating effects on future generations, this is an issue of inter-generational justice. There are financial reasons. The value of the companies is based on the fossil fuel reserves which are held and their potential future profits, and given that 80% of known reserves must stay in the ground the value of these shares is vastly overestimated. The value of the shares are expected to fall dramatically in future and if we don't act quickly our investments will make a loss as 'stranded assets' when the Carbon Bubble bursts. The Merseyside Pension fund currently has £198,897,000 directly invested in fossil fuel companies and another estimated £156,298,000 indirectly invested in commingled funds that include fossil fuel companies. This means in total the pension fund has £355,195,000 invested in fossil fuels. For more information about divestment please visit http://gofossilfree.org/uk/
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    Created by Edward Gommon
  • Divest Norfolk Pension Fund from Fossil Fuels
    UPDATE: Latest data (https://divest-dashboard.herokuapp.com/ - released Feb 2021) shows that Norfolk *still* has £118million invested in fossil fuels - 3.3% of its total fund. This is a small percentage of total investments compared to the last time these figures were released, but any investment in fossil fuels is unconscionable in this era of climate emergency. There is overwhelming evidence (1) that the impact on climate change of burning even the known reserves of fossil fuels will create an unsustainable environment for the generations to come, and untold suffering to countless living beings. This fact will impact negatively on the value of investments in the industries concerned with fossil fuel extraction. Using just the fossil fuel reserves listed on the world’s stock markets would be enough to take us beyond 2°C of global warming (2). This means that more than 80 per cent of the world's known coal reserves, 30 per cent of known oil and 50 per cent of gas reserves need to stay in the ground and drilling in the Arctic is out of the question if we're to stay below two degrees. Recent drops in the oil price add to the uncertainty surrounding fossil fuels and the financial viability of some extractions presenting opportunities to lessen our dependency on fossil fuels (3). In defiance of mainstream research evidence and international policy (4), fossil fuel companies continue to extract and burn as much carbon as possible to maximise their profits. Despite the very high probability of planetary disaster they show no intention of switching away from their core business model. Our local council has a responsibility to divest from an industry that’s destroying the very future for ourselves and for our children that personal investment in a pension seeks to enhance. Instead it should reinvest in solutions to climate change. We won’t see any political progress on climate change until we can weaken the power of the fossil fuel industry. Divestment for fossil fuel investments would also minimise the council's exposure to the financial risk of the 'carbon bubble', whereby shareholders risk being left with stranded assets (worthless fuel stocks that regulation will prevent from being burned). It is a paradox that pension funds providing income for the future should at the same time be investing in the fossil fuel industry which if left to its own devices will exploit more of the fossil fuel reserves than we can safely use! Institutions around the world including local government, universities and churches are pulling out of fossil fuel investments and moving towards a clean energy future (5) It's time to divest from fossil fuels and reinvest in clean energy now for inescapable moral and economic reasons. Shareholders (including pension funds) have started to challenge Exxon, Shell and BP to show how their business model is compatible with a 2 degree temperature rise (6). Some argue that engaging with fossil fuel companies is a more effective tactic than divestment. But Jonathon Porritt, one of the UK’s most esteemed environmentalists who spent years working on sustainability projects with BP and Shell, earlier this year said engagement was now futile because “hydrocarbon supremacists” at the companies had successfully ousted reformers wanting to diversify into green energy. Divestment, therefore, seems to be an unavoidable step to halting the damage and suffering which will ensue unless timely action is taken. 1 http://350.org/about/science/ 2 http://math.350.org/ 3 http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22530043.100-over-a-barrel-falling-oil-prices-and-the-environment.html http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22029415.700-an-oil-crash-is-on-its-way-and-we-should-be-ready.html#.VNI0c9kgGc0 4 http://www.ipcc.ch/ 5 http://zerocarbonbritain.org/index.php/zcb-latest-report 6 http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/21/bp-challenged-confront-climate-change-risk-by-shareholders Thanks to Holly from the campaign to divest Avon pension fund for letting us use their text.
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    Created by Matthew White
  • 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.
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    Created by Carl Naus
  • Bouw perrontrappen aan de Moreelsebrug!
    De perrontrappen zijn onderdeel van het oorspronkelijke ontwerp van de Moreelsebrug, die daarmee veel functioneler zou worden. Aanleg van de trappen wordt echter tegengehouden door een agressieve lobby van het Franse bedrijf Klépierre - eigenaar van Hoog Catharijne. Voetgangers kunnen zo uitsluitend via het winkelcentrum het nieuwe station bereiken. Inderdaad, een absurde situatie! Wij vragen de gemeente Utrecht om de belangen van de eigen inwoners en alle mensen die met de trein onze stad willen bezoeken (onze gasten!) zwaarder te laten wegen dan die van de lobby van Hoog Catharijne. Wij vragen onze gemeente om onvoorwaardelijk te investeren in vrije toegang voor schone en duurzame mobiliteit – voetgangers en fietsers vrij toegang te verlenen tot Utrecht CS en nog in 2017 perrontrappen te bouwen aan de Moreelsebrug! Achtergrond petitie - Utrecht Fossielvrij: Sinds 2017 rijdt de NS op volledig duurzaam geproduceerde elektriciteit. Vrije toegang van voetgangers en fietsers naar de trein vormt daarmee een kleine, maar belangrijke stap op weg naar 100% schone mobiliteit, onafhankelijk van fossiele brandstoffen als kolen, olie en gas. Zo levert Utrecht een bijdrage aan de noodzakelijke strijd tegen klimaatverandering en verbeteren we de slechte luchtkwaliteit in onze door veel te drukke snelwegen omgeven stad. Wil je meer doen? Sluit je ook aan bij Utrecht Fossielvrij - en help mee om van Utrecht een schone, toekomstbestendige stad en provincie te maken! Hier kun je aansluiten: https://www.facebook.com/UtrechtFossielvrij/
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    Created by Koen Helwegen
  • Divest Hackney Council from fossil fuels
    Climate change is the greatest challenge humanity has encountered. Warming in excess of 2°C will have catastrophic consequences [1]. In order to have a chance of staying below this maximum upper limit of warming 80% of known fossil fuel reserves must not be burnt [2]. The fossil fuel industry currently holds vast carbon reserves which if burnt would result in emissions 5 times larger than what it is 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 [3]. 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. Hackney Council's pension fund currently has £42m invested in fossil fuel companies such as ExxonMobil and Shell [4]. This is at odds with the council's stated commitment to reduce the borough's contribution to climate change and to reduce its emissions by 80% by 2050. Hackney Council exists to serve the people of the borough, and it must therefore acknowledge the significant risks that fossil fuel investments pose to local residents' financial security and future quality of life. Hackney Council should take a moral, political and economic stand by divesting our money from fossil fuel companies and choosing investments 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 Hackney wish to support an alternative, sustainable energy future. Recent financial studies have shown that divestment from fossil fuels may have a small positive effect on investment portfolios in the short term [5]. Moreover, in the long term these fossil fuel investments will become 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. It is illogical to allow pension funds to endanger those whose futures they seek to protect. By divesting from fossil fuels, Hackney Council will join public institutions such as the British Medical Association, Glasgow University, Stanford University, Oxford City Council, Bristol City Council, Oslo, amongst many others, in leading by example to help create a sustainable future for the citizens of Hackney and beyond [6]. References [1]http://bit.ly/1wqelqp [2]http://bit.ly/1s9QgyC [3]http://bit.ly/1r2Y2Qb [4]http://bit.ly/1DUM1l5 [5]http://bit.ly/13D9fwr [6]http://bit.ly/12xCgZg
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    Created by David Clarke