Nearby Petitions

Colleges & Universities

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  CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY, DIVEST FROM FOSSIL FUELS

  Fossil fuel companies’ current reserves of oil, coal and gas hold 5 times more carbon than the world’s atmosphere can safely handle. Their business plan will cause climate chaos for billions of us, yet UK universities still collectively invest £5.2 billion in fossil fuel companies (1). The University of Cambridge and Colleges have an overall endowment that equates to almost £5 billion (Ibid.). Without an ethical policy (unlike universities such as Oxford, UCL and St. Andrews), this money is invested in companies without consideration of their catastrophic environmental impact. At a global and local level, the impacts of these investments contradict the University’s positive contributions to society, through research and education. Over the past two years the global divestment movement has shown the very real path to a sustainable, fossil-free future. Regarding fossil fuels, the divestment campaign is the fastest growing climate justice campaign in history. So far, $2.6 trillion has been divested from fossil fuels by 456 institutions (Ibid.). It is recognised across the world that global temperatures must remain no more than 2°C higher than in pre-industrial times if climate change is not to destroy our entire way of life (Ibid.). For this to happen, study after study has demonstrated that 80% of currently known fossil fuel reserves must remain in the ground (Ibid.). This view is endorsed by mainstream elements of society, from Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, to the United Nations. Companies like BP and Shell – and the University’s investments in them—are not part of a sustainable future, no matter how they, or the University, might pretend otherwise. Small investments in renewables are far outweighed by the catastrophic impacts of continued oil extraction. In universities around this country and the world, divestment is denying these companies their moral acceptability – Cambridge needs to catch up. In the University’s “Dear World...” Campaign, it has positioned itself as the driving force for a better future. If it wants anyone to respect that, it needs to demonstrate moral leadership and distance itself from the fossil fuel industry. Fortunately, the working group on investment recently set up by the University presents the perfect opportunity, just a month before the historic climate summit in Paris. All moral and financial arguments point to the same thing – divestment from fossil fuels. References: (1) People and Planet (2013). Knowledge and Power: Fossil Free Universities Report. https://peopleandplanet.org/dl/fossil-free/knowledge-power-report.pdf

  2,391 of 3,000 Signatures

  Created by Zero Carbon Cambridge
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  Divest money from fossil fuels Loughborough University!

  Loughborough's endowment fund (http://alumni.lboro.ac.uk/page.aspx?pid=1062), with one part funded by alumni to benefit generation upon generation of students through the interest the fund earns, should not do so at the expense of our planet. If it is wrong to wreck the climate, then it is wrong to profit from that wreckage. Too many UK universities support the fossil fuel industry directly through their research, their endowments and investments and their partnerships with some of the biggest fossil fuel companies in the world like BP and Shell. UK students have decided to take on the fossil fuel industry by getting our universities to go Fossil Free. People & Planet is joining forces with the 350.org campaign that has been sweeping across North American campuses. We believe that our educational institutions should serve the public good and live up to their promises to tackle climate change. No UK university in their right mind would accept funding from or invest their funds in tobacco companies these days - it’s inconsistent with their research on cancer. The same holds true for fossil fuel companies causing climate change and yet most universities still do not recognise this. That’s about to change! 200 publicly-traded companies hold the vast majority of the world’s proven coal, oil and gas reserves. Those are the companies we’ll be asking our institutions to break their links with. Together they hold five times more carbon in their fossil fuel reserves than we can safely afford to burn to stop runaway climate change. It’s that simple…if you do the maths. From Canada’s dirty 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.

  1,002 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by LSU Ethics and Environment
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  Malmö University: Divest from fossil fuels

  För svensk översättning, se nedan _____________________ Although Malmö University prides itself on being committed to sustainability, they invest in non-sustainable energy companies using non-renewable resources. Burning fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil create greenhouse gases which produce carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide which are polluting our air. Other consequences of greenhouse gases are rising temperatures, climate change, melting glaciers and increased water levels. The time has come for Malmö University to put their money where their mouth is by breaking any ties with fossil fuels. _____________________ Trots att Malmö universitet utmärker sig själva som hållbara investerar de i ohållbara energiföretag som använder icke förnybara energikällor. Att bränna fossila bränslen som kol, naturgas och olja skapar växthusgaser som producerar koldioxid och kväveoxid som förorenar vår luft. Andra konsekvenser av växthusgaser är stigande temperaturer, klimatförändringar, smältande glaciärer och stigande vattenhöjd. Tiden är inne för Malmö universitet att sätta sina pengar där deras vision ligger genom att bryta alla band till fossila bränslen. For more information e-mail: fenix@karen.mah.se

  37 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Fenix Miljöförening
• Alumni Call for Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, to Divest from Fossil Fuels

  Investments are a statement about how an institution sees the future. While LMH remains invested in fossil fuels, it aligns its financial interest with, and endorses the behaviour of, the most destructive industry on the planet. Such a practice is inconsistent with LMH's reputation as a pioneer in social justice: we are the college that ended the exclusion of women at Oxford in 1878 and established the innovative Foundation Year in 2017 to address equality of representation at Oxford. It is time for LMH to acknowledge climate change as the issue of our era, a driver of both environmental destruction and global inequality. It is time for LMH to stop profiting from the causes of climate change. In the past, LMH has taken a stance on issues such as tobacco through its investment decisions, and edited its Statement of Investment Principles in May 2017 to include a provision that allows ethical concerns to guide its decision making. The stage is set for LMH to act on climate change, to lead as the first Oxford institution to do so, and to join hundreds of other institutions around the world that have already divested from fossil fuels. Oxford scholars are at the forefront of research on the impacts of climate change, and were lead authors of the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report - the global authority on climate science. The report made clear that 80% of known fossil fuel reserves must remain unburned to stay below the critical threshold of two degrees of global warming. Fossil fuel companies continue to disregard this scientific consensus. They are committed to burning 100% of their reserves, are actively exploring for more in ever more extreme environments, and are lobbying extensively to block meaningful action on climate change. Leading actors in the financial sector acknowledge that fossil fuel investments are increasingly risky, given that known reserves will become ‘unburnable’ in a carbon constrained world. This work is being championed by Oxford Smith School’s own ‘Stranded Assets’ programme. We may already be seeing the influence of the IPCC research on the oil market: a recent report by Deutsche Bank suggested that last year’s drop in oil prices was driven by growing consciousness of a carbon budget and political momentum. By divesting from fossil fuels, LMH can adopt the best investment practice both ethically and financially, act for the future of its scholars and alumni, and add its weight to the political momentum that is already undermining the industry. As LMH alumni and donors, we urge our alma mater to take action on climate change and divest from fossil fuels.

  1 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Julia Peck
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  Libérons Sciences-Po de l'industrie fossile!

  (english below) Toutes celles et ceux qui, comme nous, ont moins de trente ans, n’ont pas vécu un seul mois dont les températures mondiales étaient en-dessous des moyennes saisonnières. Nous vivons un état d’urgence climatique. L’Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris a une responsabilité morale importante dans la lutte contre le dérèglement climatique. Pourtant, les liens tissés par notre université et les entreprises fossiles (partenariats, mécénat, dons, investissements des fondations, etc.) contribuent à légitimer le coeur de leur activité climaticide. Notre université ne peut pas d’un côté prétendre former les leaders de demain pour la construction d'une société plus juste et durable, et de l’autre soutenir une industrie qui s’emploie à rendre la planète inhabitable. Le constat est clair : nous devons laisser 80 % des réserves de combustibles fossiles sous terre pour « poursuivre les efforts pour limiter la hausse des températures à 1,5 °C » comme la communauté internationale s’y est engagée lors des Accords de Paris. 200 entreprises détiennent près de cinq fois plus de carbone dans leurs réserves que ce que le monde peut se permettre de brûler tout en restant dans une zone de sûreté climatique. Pourtant, les grandes entreprises du secteur ne perçoivent pas ces gisements comme la véritable bombe climatique qu’ils sont. Elles y voient plus volontiers une opportunité de croissance et de profits. Tout en obstruant le processus politique, elles sont déterminées à extraire toujours plus de combustibles fossiles et injectent des milliards dans la recherche de nouveaux gisements, plutôt que dans le soutien à une transition nécessaire vers les énergies renouvelables. C’est pourquoi nous appelons Sciences Po à rompre tous les liens l’unissant à une industrie qui contribue à compromettre notre futur. En clair : désinvestissons et sortons le carbone de l’éducation. La destruction du climat ne se fera ni en notre nom, ni avec notre argent ; l’argent doit être investi dans les solutions, et non dans le problème. Nous demandons à notre université la transparence sur leur lien financier qu’elle entretient avec l’industrie fossile, et de mettre fin à tout soutien financier avéré en l’excluant des portefeuilles d’investissements auxquels Sciences Po est lié. Nous lui demandons également de mettre un terme à ses partenariats avec les entreprises fossiles : nous n’acceptons pas que notre université brade son image et sa respectabilité à l’industrie fossile qui s’en sert en retour pour légitimer son activité et s’offre à bas coût un blason d’acceptabilité sociale. *https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QgU9VN23JaNh2B0pb9eoHM5EMozsznaojpIulQuljDg/edit#gid=663041172 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To all people who, like us, are younger than 30 years old, and have always lived in a world with temperatures above seasonal averages: we are living in a perpetual state of climate emergency. The Political Science Institute (IEP) has a moral responsibility in the fight against climate change. Our school cannot purport to train tomorrow’s leaders for a more just and sustainable world while continuing to support the fossil fuel industry, which is making our planet uninhabitable. The conclusion is clear: we must leave 80% of fossil fuel reserves in the ground in order to keep global warming “well below 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels” and “continue efforts to limit the rise in temperature to 1.5°C,” as the international community agreed with the Paris Accords. To guarantee a sustainable future, we must put an end to the fossil fuel era now! Two hundred companies* own a large majority of proven coal, oil, and gas reserves. These reserves hold almost five times more carbon than what the world can afford to burn if we are to stay within a climatically stable range of warming. Yet this sector’s big companies do not perceive these deposits as the ticking climate bomb that they are. Instead, they see an opportunity for growth and profit. They are determined to extract more and more fossil fuels, and inject billions of dollars in the search for new deposits, rather than supporting the necessary transition towards renewable energy. This is why we are asking Sciences Po to cut all ties with an industry which is contributing to putting our future in peril. In sum: divest, and free education from fossil fuels. The climate’s destruction will not happen in our name, or with our money. This money should be invested in solutions, rather than the problem itself. Our university must withdraw its financial and moral support from fossil fuel companies, exclude them from its investment portfolio, and terminate all partnerships with the industry. We can no longer accept that our university lends its image and respectability to the fossil fuel industry, which in turn uses Sciences Po's clout to legitimize its own activities, and thereby secures social acceptability at low cost. *https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QgU9VN23JaNh2B0pb9eoHM5EMozsznaojpIulQuljDg/edit#gid=663041172

  1,367 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Sciences Po Zéro Fossile
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  Calling On Falmouth University To Commit To Never Invest In Fossil Fuels

  At the moment, there is no policy in place which stops our University investing in Fossil Fuels. We want this to change. Even though there are no investments at the moment, doesn't mean they won't in the future. We believe that it is incredibly hypocritical that an institution entrusted to prepare its students for the future should not profit from destroying it at the most fundamental level. As a forward thinking, up and coming university, is it right for Falmouth to profit from such morally questionable industries? If you are a student, academic, alumni or a concerned citizen who feels that Falmouth University should be challenged on this issue please add your signature to this petition and contact Divest Penryn to become more actively involved in this campaign!

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  Created by Conor Cowden
• Divest the Open University from fossil fuels

  To support the speediest conversion to reducing carbon dioxide emissions, encourage politicians to get serious themselves, and to be a consistent part of the solution rather than a part of the problem.

  437 of 500 Signatures

  Created by Simon Barton
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  Southern Illinois University Carbondale: Go Fossil Free!

  As public pressure to confront climate change builds, we call on Southern Illinois University Carbondale 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 Southern Illinois University Carbondale 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.

  509 of 600 Signatures

  Created by Patricia Walker
• San Francisco State University: 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 San Francisco State University 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 SF State 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.

  50 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Andrew Hayes
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  Fossil Free Lund University

  Fossil Free är en global kampanj för att flytta våra gemensamma tillgångar (skattepengar och andra resurser) från investeringar i olja, kol och gas. Det är inte många institutioner idag som placerar sina tillgångar i vapenindustrin - det är helt enkelt betraktat som omoraliskt. Människor håller med varandra om att vapen inte är okej att stödja. Det vi nu insett är att även olja, kol och gas kan ses som vapen: Vapen riktade mot oss, klimatet och vår framtid. Är det då verkligen moraliskt att ha sina pengar placerade i en industri som utsätter oss alla för fara, en industri som bevisligen spenderar miljarder årligen på att genom lobbyism och klimatskeptiska tankesmedjor förhala all politisk handling riktad mot en förnybar omställning? "If it's wrong to wreck the climate, then it's wrong to profit from that wreckage!" Det finns även starka finansiella incitament för att divestera ur fossilindustrin. Vi har råd med absolut max en 2-gradig global medeltemperaturhöjning. För att hålla oss under 2 grader har vi råd att släppa ut max 565 gigaton koldioxid i atmosfären fram till 2050, detta enligt rapporten “Unburnable Carbon” från Carbon Tracker Initiative. Enligt samma rapport sitter dock fossilindustrin redan på gas-, kol- och oljekällor som vid utvinning och förbränning skulle orsaka utsläpp av 2 795 gigaton koldioxid. Utifrån detta kan vi räkna ut att 80% av befintliga fossila bränslen måste lämnas under jord, ifall vi vill bibehålla ett någorlunda stabilt klimat på jorden! Det innebär också att de pengar vi har placerade i dessa bränslen kommer att försvinna i tomma intet så snart alla inser att vi måste lämna 80% under jord - detta är en finansiell bubbla som förmodligen kommer att spricka inom en snar framtid. Inte vill väl vi förlora 80% av värdet på stora delar av våra tillgångar? Se gärna "Do the Math", en film som beskriver problematiken med att fossilindustrin ges fria tyglar (med stöd av våra pengar): http://vimeo.com/66066932 ENGLISH Fossil Free is an international campaign to move our common assets (tax money and other resources) from investments in oil, coal and gas. There are not many institutions today that invest in the weapon industry - it is simply regarded as immoral. People agree with each other about weapons is not okay to support. What we have realized, is that oil, coal and gas can be seen as weapons as well, weapons directed against us, the climate and our future. Is it then really moral to have ones money invested in an industry that puts us all at risk, an industry that evidently spends billions annually to procrastinate any political act directed against a renewable conversion, through lobbying and climate skeptic think tanks? "If it 's wrong to wreck the climate , then it's wrong to profit from that wreckage ! " There are also strong financial incentives to divest from the fossil industry. A 2 degree global temperature rise is the absolute maximum we can afford. To stay below 2 degrees , we can afford to emit maximum 565 gigatons of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by 2050 , according to the report "Unburnable Carbon" from Carbon Tracker Initiative. According to the same report , the fossil industry already holds gas, coal and oil sources that would cause the release of 2,795 gigatons of carbon dioxide when extracted and incinerated. From this we can understand that 80% of existing fossil fuels must be left in the ground, if we want to maintain a reasonably stable climate on earth! It also means that the money we have invested in these fuels will disappear into nothing as soon as everyone realizes that we have to leave 80% in the ground - this is a financial bubble that will probably crack in the near future. We surely don't want to lose 80% of the value of much of our assets? The film "Do the Math" above is a movie that describes the problems associated with our financial support to the fossil fuel industry.

  2,163 of 3,000 Signatures

  Created by Lisa Brand
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