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  • Divest Derbyshire
    1. Derbyshire County Council Pension Fund has £290 million invested in fossil fuel industries, including Royal Dutch Shell, BP and Rio Tinto. Fossil fuel industries make up nearly 6% of the pension fund. 2. The pension fund affects over 170 employers in Derbyshire including Derbyshire County Council, all the borough and District Councils in Derbyshire [1]; Derby City Council; Chesterfield College; Derby College; Derbyshire Fire Authority; Derbyshire Police Authority; Peak District National Park Authority; University of Derby and a large group of smaller employers. 3. 97% of climate scientists agree that humans are the primary cause of recent climate change, largely due to the release of greenhouse gases from the combustion of oil, coal and gas for heat and power. 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. [2] Whole ecosystems are threatened, and people's lives are at risk due to flooding, food and water insecurity, creating climate change refugees. [3] 4. In order to stop the global climate warming by 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and avert global catastrophe, 80% of all known fossil fuels must stay in the ground. [4] By removing investments in fossil fuel companies Derbyshire County Council will be showing its commitment to creating a healthy, sustainable future for both the people of Derbyshire and the planet as a whole. 5. There is also a financial argument to divest from fossil fuels. The need and growing political pressure to leave as much of our fossil fuels in the ground make the risk of stranded assets (worthless fuel stocks that regulation will prevent from being burned) very real. [5] At the same time it is becoming more expensive both to find and to extract the remaining fuel deposits, while, renewable energy technology is becoming more efficient and less expensive. [6]. Both of these factors create risks for investors. People and institutions that own shares in fossil fuel companies will see the value of their investments decrease. [7,8] 6. Institutions across the world including churches and universities, the Environment Agency [9] as well as local authorities in the UK such as Bristol City Council and Oxford City Council have already committed to divest from fossil fuels. [10] Let's see Derbyshire join them in making this small but impactful commitment. This petition is supported by the following Derbyshire organisations (in alphabetical order): Amber Valley Against Fracking; Calow Against Gas Extraction (CAGE); Chesterfield and District TUC; Chesterfield Climate Alliance; Clay Cross Against Fracking; Creswell Against Fracking; Derby Climate Coalition; Eckington Against Fracking; Glossopdale Transition Initiative; Melbourne Area Transition; Sustainable Edale; Sustainable Hayfield; Transition Belper; Transition Buxton; Transition Chesterfield; Transition Hope Valley; Transition Matlock; Transition New Mills. Transition Wirksworth; University of Derby Students’ Union. Please let us know if you would like your group to be added to this list. A hard copy of this petition can be downloaded from www.transitionchesterfield.org/divest-derbyshire/ Notes [1] Amber Valley Borough Council; Bolsover District Council; Chesterfield Borough Council; Derby City Council; Derbyshire Dales District Council; Erewash Borough Council;; High Peak Borough Council; North East Derbyshire District Council; South Derbyshire District Council [2] http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/ [3] www.unhcr.org/pages/49e4a5096.html [4] www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30709211 [5] www.carbontracker.org/report/wasted-capital-and-stranded-assets/ [6] www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/10957292/Fossil-industry-is-the-subprime-danger-of-this-cycle.html [7] www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/03/bank-of-england-warns-of-financial-risk-from-fossil-fuel-investments [8] www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/oct/12/millions-wiped-off-uk-local-government-pensions-due-to-coal-crash-analysis-shows [9] www.eapf.org.uk/en/news-feed [10] http://gofossilfree.org/commitments/
    457 of 500 Signatures
    Created by Lisa Hopkinson
  • UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS: GO FOSSIL FREE!
    To put the University of the Arts at the forefront of the global movement to reject our reliance on fossil fuels. To follow the successful example of the University of Glasgow, who have recently achieved a divestment policy. To achieve transparency, so that students (current and prospective) know where their money is going, and all members of the University know its position on environmental issues. From tar sands to Arctic drilling and hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) for shale gas - the fossil fuel industry is scraping the bottom of the barrel and causing huge environmental and human devastation in the process. Withdrawing our institutions’ financial and moral backing for this climate-wrecking industry is crucial to tackling climate change. For more information: http://peopleandplanet.org/fossil-free http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/08/glasgow-becomes-first-university-in-europe-to-divest-from-fossil-fuels
    494 of 500 Signatures
    Created by Che Kohl Picture
  • 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.
    278 of 300 Signatures
    Created by Rob White
  • Divest Vermont’s Retirement Funds From Fossil Fuels
    Vermonters are paying for climate change - recovery funds to repair our state from Irene’s destruction, lost revenue when Lake Champlain floods or when the ski season shrinks, impacts to our farmers and our agricultural industry. In Bill McKibben’s words, “Why would we pay tens of millions to try and recover from Irene and at the same time support those corporations making the next Irene inevitable?” Fossil fuel companies are a bad investment both for the planet and for our pocketbooks. 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. Experts agree that global warming will continue to accelerate and intensify these tragic 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. Regarding the pocketbook, market analysts at HSBC have warned oil and gas majors, including BP, Shell and Statoil, that they could face a loss in market value of up to 60% should the international community stick to agreed emissions reduction targets. Their prediction is based on an ‘unburnable carbon’ scenario – a scenario where oil and gas falls to keep atmospheric concentration below 450ppm. The analysts argue that the oil market is still failing to think about a low carbon future – ‘because of its long-term nature, we doubt the market is pricing in the risk of a loss of value from this issue’.
    2,421 of 3,000 Signatures
    Created by Maeve McBride
  • Divest Greenwich Council From Fossil Fuel Investments
    The Greenwich Pension Fund has around £17 million invested directly in fossil fuel companies and more invested indirectly (i.e. commingled) [1]. Such investments carry a high degree of risk on ethical, financial and scientific grounds and the Pension Fund’s investments therefore expose the people of Greenwich to those risks. Hundreds of institutions around the globe have already committed to divesting more than £31 billion from fossil fuel companies, and the Greenwich Pension Fund can add significantly to this movement [2]. If global warming is to be limited to 2°C, a level already considered dangerous, up to 80% of known carbon reserves must be left in the ground [3]. Available evidence indicates that fossil fuel companies intend to burn enough reserves to push global warming far above 2°C, as they insist even on searching for further reserves, often in the globe’s most ecologically sensitive areas [4]. 2014 was the hottest year ever recorded and the 20 hottest years have all occurred since 1981, bringing increases in extreme weather events, flooding, droughts and other calamities [5, 6]. Fossil fuel companies have also been actively disruptive to political efforts at limiting global warming through intensive political lobbying and the funding of disinformation campaigns [7]. 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 [8]. 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 [9]. 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 References: [1] http://greenwich.greenparty.org.uk/news/council-fossil-fuel-divestment.html [2] http://gofossilfree.org/commitments/ [3] http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v517/n7533/full/nature14016.html [4] http://www.shell.com/global/future-energy/arctic/exploration-production.html [5] http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/summary-info/global/201412 [6] http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/climate-change-impacts/ [7] http://www.fossilfreemit.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/FossilFreeMIT-Lobbying-Disinformation.pdf [8] http://www.carbontracker.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Unburnable-Carbon-Full-rev2-1.pdf [9] https://www.msci.com/resources/factsheets/index_fact_sheet/msci-acwi-ex-fossil-fuels-index-gbp-gross.pdf
    529 of 600 Signatures
    Created by Mark Horowitz
  • Divest the City of Beaverton from Fossil Fuels and Nuclear Power!
    Our local government has a responsibility to divest from an industry that’s destroying our future. We can reinvest in solutions to climate change! For more about my work on Climate Change as I prepare to become a Bar Mitzvah please visit: yitzchakadin.wordpress.com. We can not count on action by the federal government. We as individuals, citizens, and members of other organizations need to act also. Extreme weather events are overwhelming local budgets across our country. Nuclear power is no better--not only is it nuclear (and therefore terrible, which should be obvious)--fossil fuels are used heavily in its production and in attempts to minimize the hazard of storing nuclear waste. We have the solutions, but we won’t see any political progress on the issue until we can weaken the power of the fossil fuel industry. The bottom line is this: divestment is the only moral choice for governments that care about their citizens. Solving the climate crisis is the only practical choice for governments that care about their solvency. It's time to divest from fossil fuels and nuclear power now!
    528 of 600 Signatures
    Created by Pam and Rob and Miko and Isaac Vergun
  • Fossil Free Berlin - Offener Brief
    Im Rahmen des Global Divestment Day und als Auftakt der städtischen Divestmentkampagne Berlin wurde der offene Brief von Klimawissenschaftlern, Politikern, Ärzten, Soziologen, Künstlern und Bürgern unterzeichnet. Alle Unterzeichner*innen und den gesamten Brief findest du hier: http://gofossilfree.org/de/divest-berlin-stadtkampagne/
    1,528 of 2,000 Signatures
    Created by Christine Langkamp
  • Divest Sonoma County from Fossil Fuel
    Sonoma County's Climate Action Plan 2020 demonstrates how well citizens and leaders of Sonoma County work together to limit local greenhouse gas emissions. However, these actions alone will not be enough to prevent the looming climate chaos which the recent IPCC report warned us about. We have to prevent the fossil fuel industries from continuing to do business as usual. In fact, to save life on the planet, the fossil fuel companies must keep 80 percent of their reserves in the ground. Exxon spends $100,000 a day in search of new fossil fuel. This proves that, not only do they plan to burn the reserves they have, but they are also eager to find and burn more, and consequently change the planet forever. By divesting from fossil fuel, Sonoma County (along with universities, colleges, places of religion, other municipalities and retirement funds) will send a clear message to the fossil fuel companies that their greed and total disregard for the planet are no longer acceptable. We applaud Sonoma County’s goals to reduce GHG emissions to 25% below 1990 by 2020; committing to remain divested from fossil fuel is the right thing to do. We urge the Sonoma County Supervisors to pass this resolution to forgo any future investments in the fossil fuel industry.
    199 of 200 Signatures
    Created by Jane Vosburg
  • Divest Montgomery County from Fossil Fuels!
    The nations of the world (including ours) have pledged to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) - because any warming beyond 2 degrees will recklessly endanger human civilization. Regrettably, they are struggling to develop a meaningful plan by which to make good on this pledge. Meanwhile, the world's fossil fuel companies already have assets in hand (i.e., coal, oil and gas currently in the ground, awaiting extraction) that -- if extracted and burned -- will make it impossible to limit the warming to 2 degrees. In fact, their assets in hand are 5 TIMES MORE than can be safely used if we are to limit the warming to 2 degrees. The Board of Investment Trustees for the Montgomery County Employee Retirement Plans recently stated that, as of December 31, 2014, over $65 million in the pension funds it oversees are invested in 65 of the top 200 fossil fuel companies. The current fossil fuel portfolio of the MCERS includes over $10 million invested in such oil and gas companies as BP, Chevron, Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips, and millions more in companies engaged in mountain-top mining of coal such as ArcellorMittal and Arch Coal. Montgomery County can do better. Studies show that divestment will not adversely affect the pension fund yields. Moreover, because people are likely to wake up at some point and put the brakes on fossil fuel use, most of today's vast known fossil fuel reserves will remain in the ground, causing a significant drop in company valuation. Thus, divestment not only makes moral sense, but financial sense as well. Our aim is to have Montgomery County sell off its multi-million dollar fossil fuel investments. Why? Because divestment works. For example, in the 1980s divestment was a major factor forcing South Africa to abandon apartheid, a previously immovable object. Similarly, the fossil fuel industry has overwhelming influence in Congress, preventing our representatives from passing crucial laws to limit climate change. The industry wears the guise of respectability, despite the fact that their business plan seeks profit from the destruction of our environment. Through our divestment campaign, we are announcing to the world that we do not wish to be associated with the fossil fuel industry. We can strip it of that illusion of respectability. Our goal is to make that industry a pariah. Our Members of Congress will become sensitized and will find it more embarrassing to be associated with fossil fuel companies. With that, the influence of these companies will decline, and our chances for essential legislation will strengthen. At the same time, fossil fuel companies may finally decide to develop renewable energy sources. Even as extreme weather events like Hurricane Sandy, floods, droughts and fires threaten to overwhelm local budgets, federal action to solve this crisis is all but stalled. We have the solutions, but we won’t see any political progress on the issue until we can weaken the power of the fossil fuel industry. The bottom line is this: Divestment is the only moral choice for institutions that care about the planet and its residents. Solving the climate crisis is the only practical choice for governments that care about their solvency. Let's do this in Montgomery County! Please: (1) sign the petition; (2) encourage other adults in your household to sign; (3) broadly share the petition with other MC residents via Facebook, list serves, etc.; and, most importantly, (4) target at least five of your like-minded friends via a personal contact to sign the petition and ask them to do the same with their friends.
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    Created by Geoffrey Kidd Picture
  • 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.
    1,389 of 2,000 Signatures
    Created by Al Chisholm