Nearby Petitions

Cities & States

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  Divest Somerset County Council Pension Fund from fossil fuels

  Somerset - on the front line of climate change. Climate Change has caused, and is predicted to cause, a much greater risk of flooding and extreme weather. After the devastating floods of the Somerset Levels in 2013 Somerset County Council saw the terrible impact of climate change first hand. The Council recognises the potential impacts of climate change yet its pension fund invests £121,505,000 in the very fossil fuel companies that are causing climate change ! Yes, 8.3% of the fund, the 10th highest % in the UK, invested in the problem ! We can't afford to burn 80% of the world’s coal, oil and gas reserves if we want to keep climate change below the 2oC 'tipping point'. As governments begin to regulate more closely (as we hope they will do more in Paris in December), policy changes and oversupply of crude oil globally will see the value of fossil fuels plummet, reserves will become 'stranded assets' and the share price will drop. This makes investing in fossil fuels increasingly risky for all stakeholders. Financial experts, including the Bank of England, Goldman Sachs, Standard and Poor's and AXA, have warned of the economic risk that climate change policies pose to fossil fuel companies. Somerset County Council needs to be ahead of the curve to safeguard the future pensions of all its shareholders. Somerset County Council recognises that it must do whatever it can to tackle climate change and it has a responsibility to divest from an industry that jeopardises the future of our planet. Yet the short term financial gain that the Pension Fund Committee hopes to achieve comes at the risk of financial loss and a cost to people and planet. We hope Somerset County County Council pension trustees are aware of September’s UNEP Finance Initiative Report, Fiduciary Duty in the 21st Century – which concludes that: "Failing to consider long-term investment value drivers, which include environmental, social and governance issues, in investment practice is a failure of fiduciary duty.” Instead of fossil fuel investment, SCC Pension Fund Committee should invest in solutions to climate change, investments that protect pensions and planet, joining The British Medical Association, Bristol City Council and Oxford City Council who have all recently agreed to make the commitment to no direct investment in the fossil fuel industry. Globally Somerset County Council would join over 400 institutions and 2000 individuals with an asset base of $2.6 trillion who are already divesting across the world. We note the Government’s current October proposals to ban Council divestment unless from an approved government list and we hope that the Committee has the courage to take action before the government dictates what investments should be made. --ENDS-- Please sign the petition and encourage others to do so. (1) http://math.350.org/ 350.org has revealed how much every UK council invests in fossil fuels. Petition from Cllr Shane Collins, Leader of the Green Group on Mendip Council, East Mendip Green Party, South Somerset Green Party.

  1,058 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Cllr Shane Collins
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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.

  2,889 of 3,000 Signatures

  Created by Divest East Sussex
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  Divest Oxfordshire from fossil fuels

  Our local authority has a duty to look out for the public good. Fossil fuels are in direct conflict with the public good: investing in them poses a risk both to investors and to the planet. So Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire 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 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 Oxfordshire 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. Financial research has called into question the valuations of fossil fuel companies due to their reliance on reserves which may become unburnable if carbon legislation comes into effect.

  1,362 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Al Chisholm
• Berkshire Pension Fund: Divest from Fossil Fuels

  It is estimated that the Royal County of Berkshire Pension Fund has over 97 million pounds invested indirectly in fossil fuels. If fossil fuel companies extract and burn just 20% of the reserves they hold, this will cause catastrophic climate change (extreme weather, food shortages and conflict). The urgency of stopping climate change requires that we progressively stop burning fossil fuels now. It is irresponsible and immoral for public bodies and pension funds to invest in fossil fuel extraction companies and instead they should, where possible, direct investment into 'green energy' infrastructure.

  268 of 300 Signatures

  Created by Rob White
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  STOP Kent County Council Investing in Dangerous Fossil Fuels

  Our local authority has a duty to look out for the public good. Fossil fuels are in direct conflict with the public good:investing in them poses a risk to both investors and the planet. Kent County Council has £267488689 invested in fossil fuels. No challenge poses a greater threat to our future and future generations than climate change. We are already seeing more extreme weather events around the world, people being forced to migrate due to flooding or crop failure, and spring flowers blooming in the UK in November! Over 97% of scientists now agree that climate change is fuelled by the burning of fossil fuels (1). This causes problems both worldwide and within Kent, where we will see increasing areas of low lying land become prone to flooding. Institutions around the world including local government, universities and churches are pulling out of fossil fuels investments and moving towards a cleaner energy future. (2). It's now time to divest from fossil fuels and reinvest in a better future, Financial research has called into question the valuation of fossil fuel companies due to their reliance on reserves which would become unburnable if international carbon legislation comes into effect. Divestment from fossil fuels would minimise the council's exposure to the financial risk of the 'carbon bubble', whereby shareholders risk being left with 'stranded assets' (worthless fuels stocks that regulations will prevent from being burned.) Although KCC Statement of Investment Principles for the Superannuation Fund (3) states that 'the fund will not impose restrictions upon our external fund managers'....it later goes on to say that 'as a member of the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change we will monitor developments on climate change and use the research undertaken to monitor and challenge our investment managers.' For the sake of future generations, the people of Kent and the whole planet, the time has now come to challenge these investment managers. 1.http://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2013/may/16/climate-change-scienceofclimatechange 2.http://zerocarbonbritain.org/index.php/zcb-latest-report 3.http://www.kentpensionfund.co.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/32370/pension-fund-statement-of-investment-principles.pdf

  527 of 600 Signatures

  Created by Frances Long
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  Divest Staffordshire Pension Fund

  Staffordshire Pension Fund is the Local Government Pension Fund for the county of Staffordshire and is funded through pension contributions from employees of publicly-funded organisations such as Staffordshire County Council, Stoke City Council, the Office of the Chief Constable Staffordshire, Staffordshire University, Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council and other parishes, towns, boroughs and public organisations across Staffordshire. As of 31 December 2015, the Pension Fund holds at least £61,879,853.16 worth of shares in companies from the fossil fuel industry, including £20,180,703.41 worth of shares in six of the world's biggest oil companies: BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Statoil, Chevron, Exxon Mobil and Lukoil, who are jointly responsible for major environmental damage and human rights violations the world over. In total, the Pension Fund holds £42,334,871.79 in 14 of the 90 companies responsible for two-thirds of the global greenhouse gases emissions since 1854. By continuing to grant social legitimacy to the burning of fossil fuels, the Staffordshire Pension Fund and all its participating organisations are complicit in driving unprecedented climate change. Climate change is happening now - we’re already experiencing global temperature rise, warming oceans, shrinking ice sheets and more frequent and intense extreme weather events affecting thousands of communities and millions of people across the world. Investing in fossil fuels is not only damaging to the planet, it's also a very risky investment. The Staffordshire Pension Fund has already seen a massive decrease in its investment, losing £21,573,041.12 (or 25.85%) worth of shares in companies such as Glencore, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Lukoil and others. By removing investments in fossil fuel companies, the Staffordshire Pension Fund and all its participating bodies and organisations will be showing their commitment to creating a healthy, sustainable and financially viable future for both the people of Staffordshire and the planet as a whole. Please sign this petition if you believe that the Staffordshire Pension Fund should divest from fossil fuels to protect the planet and the financial future of thousands of workers from across Staffordshire.

  30 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Tomasz Kozlowski
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  Divest Dorset From Fossil Fuels

  Fossil Fuels are now proven to be responsible for a large, and growing, number of harmful effects which harm the natural environment, people, and wildlife, and no economic case can be made which can justify the damage being done nor which could support the remedial action necessary to prevent damage being passed on to future generations

  113 of 200 Signatures

  Created by Charles Miller
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  Divest Southwark Council’s Pension Fund from Fossil Fuel Investments

  UPDATE: In December 2016 Southwark Council made a commitment to divest from fossil fuels. We are now working with them to follow through on this commitment. Climate change is the greatest challenge humanity has encountered. The 20 hottest years on record have all occurred since 1981 and 2014 was the hottest ever [2]. Higher average temperatures are directly linked to extreme weather events such as heatwaves, droughts, floods and storms. In the UK, January 2014 was the wettest in 250 years [3]. Scientists have unanimously concluded that these changes are a consequence of human activity, arising from the burning of fossil fuels [4]. Moreover, this activity has resulted in unprecedented levels of air pollution, now regarded as a major world killer [5]. In Southwark, over 100 people die prematurely each year owing to poor air quality [6]. If global warming is to have a chance of staying below a 2°C rise upon pre-industrial temperatures (a limit already considered dangerous), up to 80% of known fossil fuel reserves must be kept in the ground [7]. All available evidence suggests that fossil fuel companies intend to burn the reserves within their control, taking us substantially over the 2°C limit [7]. Moreover, companies such as Shell are actively trying to discover new reserves, often in environmentally sensitive regions [8]. In addition, the fossil fuel industry has been a divisive influence in preventing meaningful legislation on climate change through their intensive lobbying of decision makers and funding of disinformation campaigns [9]. 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 these destructive activities and legitimising this action through their tacit support of fossil fuel companies. Southwark’s investments in fossil fuel companies The Southwark Pension Fund consists of £1.2 billion worth of assets [10]. Based on publicly available metrics and the 2014/15 annual report for the Pension Fund, we have conservatively determined that at least £60.6 million pounds within this fund is invested in fossil fuel companies, including: Shell, BP, BHP Billiton, Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Total [10,11]. A recent authoritative financial analysis has demonstrated that across more than 6,000 pension and hedge funds, investors who divested from fossil fuel companies would have earned a 1.2% greater average return since 2010, when compared to conventional investors [12]. Moreover, in the long term these fossil fuel investments will become increasingly unprofitable as the cost of extraction and international treaties restrict the use of fossil fuels [7]. Not only does it make moral sense not to invest in the destruction of our planet, it is also financially prudent. Aligning Southwark’s investments with its values Southwark Council have been exemplary in supporting environmentally sustainable practices. For example, the borough has the highest percentage of Eco-Schools of any local authority in England [13] and in 2010 was awarded £4.35 million for a cavity wall insulation project in 5,000 council homes to both alleviate fuel poverty and reduce energy consumption [14]. Southwark Council has committed to reducing borough wide CO2 emissions by 22.4% by 2020 and 80% by 2050 and states “that energy should be supplied as much as possible from renewable sources on-site or locally. This is less wasteful and will reduce our reliance on remote sources of energy, including imported oil and gas” [15]. Continuing to invest in the fossil fuel industry contradicts the positive steps taken by Southwark Council to lower its environmental impacts. Southwark residents are at risk of climate change, including an increased risk of flooding and elevated levels of air pollution [16], as well as damage to the London economy [17]. It is illogical to allow pension funds to endanger those whose futures they seek to protect. The London Assembly recently passed a motion in favour of divestment and by divesting from fossil fuels, Southwark will join forward thinking institutions, including The British Medical Association, Glasgow University and City Councils such as Oxford and Bristol, amongst many others, in leading by example to help create a sustainable future for the citizens of Southwark and beyond. References [1] http://tinyurl.com/lmskfgk [2] http://tinyurl.com/n4dbbx8 [3] http://tinyurl.com/pw2c42v [4] http://tinyurl.com/3e3zv [5] http://tinyurl.com/pqgdd5q [6] http://tinyurl.com/m2pxrx2 [7] http://tinyurl.com/na7xywd [8] http://tinyurl.com/k5knzss [9] http://tinyurl.com/lswg6w7 [10] http://tinyurl.com/pezzajy [11] http://gofossilfree.org/uk/pensions/ [12] http://tinyurl.com/ls7vh24 [13] http://tinyurl.com/lzgwro4 [14] http://tinyurl.com/luwj97o [15] http://tinyurl.com/m5rlfwk [16] http://tinyurl.com/kttxfc5 [17] http://tinyurl.com/n467mgw

  1,006 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Tytus Murphy
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  Romans sur Isère

  Considérant que les engagements pris dans l'accord de Paris adopté à l'issu de la COP21, par lequel la communauté internationale s'est engagé à maintenir le réchauffement climatique « bien en-deçà de 2°C » ; Considérant que l'Assemblée nationale a adopté, le 25 novembre dernier, une résolution pour une société bas carbone, dans laquelle elle « "encourageant les investisseurs institutionnels, les entreprises, notamment celles dont l’État est actionnaire, et les collectivités territoriales à cesser d’investir dans les énergies fossiles et notamment dans le charbon » ; Considérant que, dans son rapport « Unburnable carbon », la Carbon Tracker Initiative montre que les entreprises du secteur fossile exploitent actuellement ou s'apprêtent à exploiter des réserves de charbon, de gaz et de pétrole représentant 2,795 gigatonnes d'émissions potentielles de CO2, soit cinq fois ce que nous pouvons émettre si nous souhaitons pouvoir maintenir le réchauffement sous cette barre des 2°C ; Considérant que des travaux récemment publiés par la revue Nature ont montré que l'ensemble des combustibles fossiles présents dans le sous-sol, qu'il s'agisse de gisements exploités, en passe d'être exploités, ou simplement identifiés, représentent 11 000 gigatonnes d'émissions potentielles de C02, soit vingt fois ce que nous pouvons émettre si nous souhaitons pouvoir maintenir le réchauffement climatique sous cette barre des 2°C ; Considérant la campagne lancée il y a trois ans par le mouvement 350.org de « désinvestissement du secteur fossile », qui se fonde sur le constat que certaines institutions encouragent le réchauffement climatique en détenant des investissements directs dans des entreprises du secteur des énergies fossiles, et encourage les institutions à initier une stratégie d’investissement socialement et écologiquement responsable et pour ainsi agir en faveur du climat ; Considérant que les entreprises ciblées dans le cadre de cette campagne sont toutes celles qui appartiennent à la liste des 200 entreprises qui possèdent les plus grandes réserves de charbon, de gaz et de pétrole, autrement dit qui représentent les principales sources d'émissions de CO2 à venir, telles que listées par la « Carbon tracker initiative » ; Considérant que pour réellement initier ce changement souhaité deux principaux acteurs sont prioritairement à convaincre : les fonds de pension et les banques, qui gèrent des portefeuilles d’investissement très importants ; Considérant que les caisses de retraites de la fonction publique (Ircantec, Erafp, Cnrac) ainsi que le Fonds de réserve pour les retraites détiennent plusieurs milliards d'actions et obligations émises par ces entreprises ; Considérant que plus de 500 villes, universités, musées et autres institutions se sont d’ores et déjà engagées dans cette démarche, à l’image des villes de San Francisco et Seattle ou encore de l’université de Stanford, du Fonds souverain de Norvège, de la fondation Rockefeller Brothers, rejointes par la ville de Paris par 34 collectivités locales françaises (parmi lesquelles les villes de Paris, Lille et Bordeaux, les régions Ile de France et Rhône-Alpes-Auvergne) ; Considérant que Romans sur Isère a la responsabilité de protéger la vie et l'environnement de ses habitants des conséquences du changement climatique ;

  13 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Nicolas Haeringer
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  Divest the London Pension Fund from Fossil Fuels

  Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, supports divestment! http://www.sadiq.london/a_greener_cleaner_london 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 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. The London Pension Fund Authority (LPFA) manages the pensions of City Hall employees (including the Mayor of London and the London Assembly) as well as many other local authorities [4]. It manages nearly £5 billion worth of assets, millions of which are direct investments in fossil fuel companies including BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Shell [5]. Indirect investments total £54.6 million. These 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, City Hall will join public institutions such as the British Medical Association, Glasgow University and Oxford City Council, amongst many others, in leading by example to help create a sustainable future for the citizens of London and beyond. So we ask: 1. The London Pensions Fund Authority (LPFA) to: - Immediately freeze any new investment in fossil fuel companies, including those made by externally managed and pooled funds. - Offer a fossil free pension option to employees - Divest from the top 200 companies with the largest known carbon reserves (oil, gas and coal), and shift these funds to lower risk, ethical investments within 5 years 2. The Mayor and the London Assembly must be transparent about their relationship with the fossil fuel industry: - Publish full details of their financial and other ties to the fossil fuel industry - Not accept sponsorship and advertising from fossil fuel companies. - Declare their divestment from the fossil fuel industry in order to encourage other pension funds, institutions and individuals to do the same. References [1]http://bit.ly/1Cp61vN [2]http://bit.ly/1mLPo58 [3]http://bit.ly/1r2Y2Qb [4]http://www.lpfa.org.uk/Who-we-are.aspx [5]http://bit.ly/1z8u53U

  2,255 of 3,000 Signatures

  Created by Divest London
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