Nearby Petitions

Colleges & Universities

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  University of Aberdeen: Divest from Fossil Fuels

  The future of Aberdeen graduates is currently threatened by climate change. Already we are suffering the effects of a 1°C rise in global average temperatures, and world leaders agree that the warming must be contained at a 2°C increase in order to avoid catastrophic global effects. UN climate chief Christina Figueres has called on investors to divest from fossil fuels, saying “The pensions, life insurances and nest eggs of billions of ordinary people depend on the long-term security and stability of institutional investment funds. Climate change increasingly poses one of the biggest long-term threats to those investments and the wealth of the global economy.” In order to avoid global temperatures rising further than a 2°C increase, as much as 80% of currently known fossil fuel reserves will have to be left in the ground - yet the value of fossil fuel assets is based on the extraction of all those reserves. When the world gets serious about climate change, these "carbon bubbles" will burst and the value of fossil fuel shares will plummet. This is why the university not only has a moral, but also a financial duty to withdraw its investments from the fossil fuel industry. We call on the University of Aberdeen to join other universities leading the way on this issue and protect the future of its students by divesting from the fossil fuel industry now.

  1,441 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Eva Nohe
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  Die Uni Heidelberg soll sich zu einem klimafreundlichen Finanz- und Anlagemanagement bekennen.

  Begründung: Spätestens die Dürre dieses Sommers hat uns gezeigt, dass der Klimwandel mitten in Deutschland angekommen ist. Wir haben einen ersten Vorgeschmack bekommen, welchen Druck der Klimawandel auf unsere Landwirtschaft und Gesellschaft ausüben kann. Die extemen Unwetter häufen sich hierzulande genauso wie die "Jahrhundertstürme" an den Küsten Amerikas und Asiens. Allein für Deutschland rechnet die Münchener Rückversicherung bis 2050 mt 800 Milliarden Euro Klimafolgeschäden. Hunderte Millionen von Menschen in den Ländern des globalen Südens sehen das Land unter ihren Füßen durch die Ausbreitung der Wüsten und den Anstieg des Meeresspiegels bedroht. Die Weltbank beziffert die Anzahl der Klimaflüchtlinge bis 2050 mit 140 Millionen. Die internationale Staatengemeinschaft hat sich, um die katastrophalen Folgen eines noch gefährlicheren Klimawandels abzuwenden, 2015 in Paris verpflichtet, alles in ihrer Macht stehende zu unternehmen, um die Erderwärmung deutlich unter zwei Grad Celsius zu begrenzen. Die Ziele, die sich die Staaten allerdings auferlegt haben, führen uns auf einen Pfad, der bis 2100 eine Erwärmung um über 3 Grad Celsius bedeutet. Um die Klimakrise noch aufhalten zu können, müssen die Klimaschutzbemühungen der Staaten also deutlich verschärft werden. Der bestehende wissenschaftliche Konsens besagt, wenn wir den Temperaturanstieg unter 2°C halten wollen, müssen wir dafür sorgen, dass 80% der bekannten Vorkommen fossiler Brennstoffe unter der Erde bleiben. Erdöl-, Kohle- und Gaskonzerne verheizen aber weiterhin ohne Rücksicht auf unsere Lebensgrundlagen und auf zukünftie Generationen in alarmierendem Tempo die bestehenden Vorkommen und geben Milliarden aus, um noch mehr fossile Brennstoffe zu finden. Dabei schrecken sie auch nicht vor hochriskanten und umweltzerstörenden Methoden wie Fracking, Mountain Top Removal, Tagebau, Offshore Drilling und dem Abbau von Teersanden zurück. Daraus ziehen viele dem Gemeinwohl und der Gesellschaft verpflichtete Akteure, wie Städte Kommunden, Universitäten, Kirchen, Stiftungen und auch FInanzinstitute bereits Konsequenzen. Sie investieren nicht mehr in fossile Energien und in Unternehmen, die fossile Energieträger erschließen, abbauen oder verfeuern. Das ist der Grundgedanke von Fossil Free! In Deutschland haben sich unter anderem schon die Städten Göttingen, Münster, Berlin, Bremen und die Universitäten Göttingen und Münster dem Divestement angeschlossen. Es ist an der Zeit, dass sich die Universität Heidelberg getreu ihres Mottos "Zukunft seit 1386" öffentlich und verbindlich zu einem klimafreundlichen Finanz- und Anlagemanagement bekennt.

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  Created by LIsa-Marie Zoller
• Divest Birkbeck

  Investment in fossil fuel industries drives fossil fuel consumption and its negative social and environmental impacts. Burning coal, oil, and gas releases CO2 and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, both warming and polluting the planet. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), if the status quo continues the planet could warm by almost 5oC by 2100. This would have a catastrophic impact on human life. It would turn our planet into one not “similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted”, as James Hansen, a top climate scientist at NASA put it. The second reason is that investment in these companies gives implicit support to their activities. It is a matter of social justice and duty that the University withdraw its financial support for companies that actively contribute to global warming, the burden of which is being felt disproportionately by the world’s poorest countries, who are contributing least to climate change. Not only does this exacerbate global poverty it perpetuates further social inequality between the global south and the global north. Divestment from fossil fuel firms will help remove fossil fuel companies’ social license to exploit the world's most impoverished nations. The third reason is that investment in fossil fuel companies is illogical when set against the University’s environmental priorities. The university is pledging to reduce carbon emissions and embed sustainability into their business model and culture of institutions. It intends to be fully compliant with environmental legislation and promote environmental responsibility. On this basis and in light of the Paris agreement that includes averting irreversible damage to the ecosystems, all planetary life and livelihoods. Besides its dangers, there are strong financial arguments for divestment. As the BP oil spill illustrated, fossil fuel companies operate in risky contexts that can not only damage environments and communities, but also shareholder value. Fossil fuel companies are at the mercy of regulations aimed at preventing climate change. Recent research has shown that, if regulators are serious about preventing climate change, a third of global oil reserves, half of all gas reserves, and over 80% of coal reserves will have to remain unburned to limit global warming to 2ºC. This means fossil fuel firms would have to massively write down the value of assets on their balance sheets, leading to huge and sustained destruction in shareholder value. By divesting from fossil fuels, the University will join a long list of respected institutions already committed to going fossil free, including Stanford University, Glasgow University, Oxford CIty Council, the World Council of Churches, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. The global divestment campaign is growing, and together we can make a statement about how we want our future to look. We urge all students, alumni, staff and members of the public to sign the petition to support an end to social and environmental devastation.

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  Created by Suzanne Henry
• University of Portsmouth: Divest from the Fossil Fuel Industry

  The fossil fuel industry is driving the world towards a climate crisis. The science is clear, if we are to avoid catastrophic changes to our planet’s climate, threatening ecosystems and the lives of billions of people, we must drastically reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and transfer to cleaner energy systems. And we must do it quickly. The fossil fuel industry is actively blocking efforts to achieve this transition. It is wielding its unparalleled political influence to ensure global carbon emissions continue to rise, and reaping exorbitant profits at the cost of all our futures. This cannot be allowed to continue. It is incumbent upon all people of conscience now to take a stand against those individuals and institutions that would enrich themselves at humanity’s expense. The first step in doing that is to declare that you won’t be one of them. The University of Portsmouth should not attempt to profit from this morally bankrupt industry, and should join the growing international movement to withdraw its social license to operate.

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  Created by Green Society
• Divest Lancaster University from Unethical Investment

  UK universities support the fossil fuel industry directly through investments in companies such as BP and Shell. Lancaster University's involvement within this industry is incompatible with their image as a green university, actively promoting renewable energy and sustainability. Around 14% of the university's current investments are in fossil fuels and nearly 4% of investments are in the arms trade. These investments are incompatible with the view of Lancaster as an ethical and environmentally friendly university, and we believe an increased awareness and lobbying by students will encourage the university management to adopt an ethical investment policy. Link to our most up to date information on the University's investments: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/university_investments_2?nocache=incoming-575353#incoming-575353 Link to the research we have conducted into these companies: http://lancasterethicalinvestment.tumblr.com/

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  Created by Orla McKeon-Carter
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  Divest Imperial from Fossil Fuels

  Climate change has been described as the most serious challenge of our generation. Under the United Nations Copenhagen Accord, countries have agreed to limit warming to 2 degrees to prevent dangerous climate change. Moreover, investing in fossil fuels poses a serious financial risk. According to recent research led by Professor Lord Stern at LSE, two-thirds of current fossil fuels reserves are unburnable if climate change is to be kept to the globally-agreed limit of 2 degrees of warming [3]. In this regard, we call upon the Endowment Fund Board to issue explicit guidance to ensure the funds are divested away from fossil fuels, for the sake of current and future generations. References: [1] FOI Request [2] People & Planet, Platform, 350.org: http://peopleandplanet.org/dl/fossil-free/knowledge-power-report.pdf [3] Carbon Tracker Initiative Report (Carbon Tracker & The Grantham Research Institute, LSE) : http://www.carbontracker.org/wastedcapital

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  Created by Tara Clarke
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  Divest Saint Xavier University Now

  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 $50 billion 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.

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  Created by Neveen Hammad
• Royal Holloway University of London Fossil Fuel Divestment

  It will prove that Royal Holloway is a leading educational institution, dedicated to its mission of 'agenda-setting research, which is addressing some of the world’s biggest cultural, social, scientific and economic challenges in innovative and impactful ways and distinctive range of programmes that are relevant to lifelong employment needs combine to provide real value for students, both while they are studying and in the opportunities that their Royal Holloway degree will bring them now and throughout their lives.' 200 publicly-traded fossil fuel companies hold the vast majority of the world’s proven coal, oil and gas reserves. Those are the companies we are asking Royal Holloway to break their links with These companies hold five times more carbon in their fossil fuel reserves than we can safely afford to burn to stop runaway climate change. Fossil fuel companies cause huge environmental and human devastation in the process of extracting and burning fossil fuels. Withdrawing Royal Holloway’s financial and moral backing for this climate-wrecking industry is crucial to tackling climate change.

  271 of 300 Signatures

  Created by Nik Wakefield
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  I ♥ BC Fossil Free

  It is simple: if it is wrong to destroy the planet, then it is wrong to profit from that destruction. Divesting from fossil fuel and tar sands companies supports Broward College's vision to "stand at the leading edge of technological and environmentally sound innovation." Divesting from fossil fuels also supports two of Broward College's core values: a commitment to sustainability by "ensuring efficient use of college resources while implementing fiscally sound practices and environmentally sustainable initiatives that can be modeled in collaboration with our community," and integrity "by fostering an environment of respect,dignity, and compassion that affirms and empowers all its members while striving for the highest ethical standards and social responsibility." In addition, Broward College's divestment from fossil fuel and tar sands companies also supports the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission six core values: Integrity Continuous Quality Improvement Peer Review/Self-regulation Accountability Student Learning Transparency By divesting from the fossil fuel industry, Broward College can help to discredit the fossil fuel companies so that they loose their influence over our government. By joining the growing number of education institutions, churches, towns, and states across the country, Broward College can help bring pressure to bear on government and industry to act now to slow climate change and rising sea-levels which threaten the security of our land, food supply, drinking water, health, property values and the overall future of our planet.

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  Created by Giovanni Bonelli
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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

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  Created by Zero Carbon Cambridge