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  • FOSSIL FREE HEC Paris
    The IPCC and other scholars have estimated that to have at least a 50% chance to stay below a temperature increase of 2°C within the 21st century, we have to limit the cumulative greenhouse gas emissions between 2011 and 2050 to approximately 1.100 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e)[1]. In contrast, research also discovered that global fossil fuel reserves contain 2900 GtCO2e in total, which means that at least 33% of global oil, 50% of global natural gas and over 80% of global coal reserves must remain unused in order to probably meet the 2°C target.[2] Nevertheless, oil, gas and coal mining companies continue to invest hundreds of billions of dollars per year into the exploration and production of new reserves (USD 674bn in 2012)[3], although an extensive body of research from the University of Oxford, the Carbon Tracker Initiative in collaboration with the London School of Economics and Political Science, the Chatham House, HSBC, The Economist Intelligence Unit, Kepler Chevreux, the Bank of England, and from many more renowned organisations has underlined the high and growing carbon risk embedded in fossil fuel assets[4]. These assets will lose their value before the end of their economic life (known as stranded assets) if political leaders implement stricter climate policies necessary to limit global warming to 2°C. In addition to the continuation of business as usual, fossil fuel companies engage in lobbying and disinformation campaigns to prevent climate change legislation[5].These points illustrate that the fossil fuel companies' business model and practices are fundamentally inconsistent with climate change mitigation and undermine the globally supported 2°C target. The investment in and support of fossil fuel companies to continue business as usual is neither in line with HEC's mission and values[6] nor does it contribute to climate change mitigation. If HEC Paris wants to educate and train global leaders of tomorrow to contribute to society as a whole, then HEC has to support a global legally binding climate agreement to be formulated and signed in Paris. Investments in fossil fuel companies which hold and are ready to produce a carbon-intensive asset base while pushing global temperature increase beyond 2°C are first and foremost a threat to the future of humanity and, in addition, pose a significant and urgent economic risk. References: [1] See McGlade, Ekins (2015). The geographical distribution of fossil fuels unused when limiting global warming to 2°C. Nature. Vol. 517. January 2015. [2] See McGlade, Ekins (2015). The geographical distribution of fossil fuels unused when limiting global warming to 2°C. Nature. Vol. 517. January 2015; see also Mitchell et al. (2015). Oil and Gas Mismatches: Finance, Investment and Climate Policy. Research Paper of the Chatham House: The Royal Institute of International Affairs. [3] See Carbon Tracker Initiative and Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, London School of Economics and Political Science (2013). Unburnable Carbon 2013: Wasted capital and stranded assets. [4] See Asnar et al. (2013). Stranded assets and the fossil fuel divestment campaign: what does divestment mean for the valuation of fossil fuel assets? Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford; and See Carbon Tracker Initiative and the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, London School of Economics and Political Science (2013). Unburnable Carbon 2013: Wasted capital and stranded assets; and see Mitchell et al. (2015).Oil and Gas Mismatches: Finance, Investment and Climate Policy. Research Paper of the Chatham House: The Royal Institute of International Affairs; and HSBC stated that "we believe stranding risks for assets are relatively high this year and growing." Paun et al. (2015). Stranded assets: what next? How investors can manage increasing fossil fuel risk. HSBC Global Research; and see The Economist Intelligence Unit (2015). The cost of inaction: recognising the value at risk from climate change; and Kepler Chevreux states that "USD 28trn of fossil-fuel revenues [are] at risk in a 450-ppm world"; Kepler Chevreux (2015). Stranded assets, fossilised revenues. ESG Sustainability Research; and see Carrington (2015). Bank of England warns of huge financial risk from fossil fuel investments. The Guardian Online. [5] For an overview see for instance Fossil Free MIT (2014). The Fossil Fuel Industry’s Role in Hindering Climate Change Action: Lobbying and Disinformation Against Science and Scientists. [6] See HEC Paris (2015). About HEC Paris: Mission and Values. HEC Paris website.
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    Created by David Kampmann
  • Divest the University of Melbourne from fossil fuels
    Unless we act rapidly to curb global emissions, we face climate catastrophe within this century. If we are to stay below the 2 degree guardrail for global warming, 80% of current fossil fuel reserves must stay in the ground. Despite this, the fossil fuel industry is committed to burning all of the coal, oil and gas in their reserves, and they continue to search for more. If their business plans go unchecked, we face a devastating future. At the same time, the fossil fuel industry funds climate denial, donates millions of dollars to politicians to get them on side, launches PR attacks on environmental campaigns and blocks legislation that would see us make the transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy. Unless we can rein in the inordinate power and influence of this industry we don't stand a chance of getting real action on climate change. By taking their money out of fossil fuels, the University of Melbourne can loosen the tight grip these companies have over our political system and make room for legislation that is in line with the climate science. As Australia's no. 1 University, the University of Melbourne is well-placed to call the fossil fuel industry out for their roll in blocking action on climate, and pave the way for a just transition to renewables.
    4,165 of 5,000 Signatures
    Created by Fossil Free MU
  • Carleton College: Go Fossil Free!
    Carleton College "is committed to being a good citizen of a more sustainable world," and a member of American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment. Carleton was the first higher education institution in the country to install a wind turbine in 2004, and built a second in 2011. Solar arrays adorn a residence hall. And yet despite commendable efforts such as these, climate change is accelerating. This fossil-fuel divestment opportunity provides one more opportunity for Carleton to take action against climate change. 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 Carleton College 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 Carleton College 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.
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    Created by Brett Smith
  • Fossil Free Warwick University
    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.
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    Created by Phoebe Cullingworth
  • Front Range Community College: 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 Front Range Community College 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 Front Range Community College 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.
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    Created by Stephanie Chrisley
  • Divest Antioch University from Fossil Fuels
    Climate change is an environmental and human rights crisis that demands bold action. We are witnessing the increasing impacts of a warming planet more and more consistently. The effects of climate change disproportionately affect lower income and marginalized communities, often exacerbating already existing social injustices. Almost every government in the world has agreed through the 2009 Copenhagen Accord that any warming above a 2°C (3.6°F) rise would be unsafe, and that humans can only pour about 565 more gigatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to maintain this. Based on current emissions, we will emit those 565 gigatons in a little over 15 years. Fossil-fuel companies possess proven fossil fuel reserves that would release approximately 2,795 gigatons of CO2 if they are burned, which is five times the "safe" amount. Warming in excess of the "safe" amount will leave us a planet inconsistent with that on which human civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted. Fossil fuel companies not only plan on burning all of their reserves, but spend millions of dollars per day exploring for more fossil fuels. Their business model is incompatible with a liveable planet. Knowingly profiting from the creation and exacerbation of climate change runs counter to both AU's mission of advancing social, economic, and environmental justice and to the values of our learning community. Our investment choices all have real-world social, economic, and environmental justice consequences. Antioch University has an opportunity now to be a leader in shifting its endowment resources from fossil fuels to investments in an array of robust alternatives that advance our institutional mission, such as, community development, clean and renewable energy sources, and energy efficiency and conservation, among other public goods. It is time for Antioch University to invest in communities and the future, not climate change. see https://drive.google.com/a/antioch.edu/file/d/0BzvD7pr40Gt1RWdzVTJRYlBhVlk/view?usp=sharing for a full brief with citations on why AU should divest from fossil fuels.
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    Created by Josh Lipkowitz
  • Lehigh 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 Lehigh University to 1. immediately freeze any new investment in companies responsible for the extraction, refinement, and processing of fossil fuels, and any companies whose sole purpose is to support these aforementioned companies 2. completely divest within five years from direct ownership and from any commingled funds that include public equities and corporate bonds associated with the companies mentioned above 3. increase investments in renewable energy companies We believe such action on behalf of Lehigh University will not only be a sound decision for our institution’s financial portfolio, but also for the well-being of its current and future graduating classes, who deserve the opportunity to graduate with a future not defined by climate chaos. Additionally, the aforementioned actions are in alignment with the university’s commitment to service to others as discussed in the mission statement; just as graduates “are expected to live by a set of mature cultural and personal values, accept the virtue of work as a vehicle of service”, we expect these same ideals to be reflected by our administration.
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    Created by Laura Dobroski
  • UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL: DIVEST FROM THE FOSSIL FUEL INDUSTRY
    Investment in fossil fuel industries drives fossil fuel consumption and its negative 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 [2]. 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 [3]. The second reason is that investment in these companies gives implicit support to their activities. It is the moral duty of the University to 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, and which exacerbates global poverty. Divestment from fossil fuel firms will help remove fossil fuel companies’ social license to operate. The third reason is that investment in fossil fuel companies is illogical when set against the University’s environmental priorities. The Cabot Institute is committed to research surrounding the environment and climate change. Furthermore the university is pledging to become a net carbon neutral campus by 2030. It also has an annually reviewed environmental policy that states that, “protection of the environment is an integral part of good institutional practice” [4]. 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 [5][6]. 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. University of Bristol students and affiliates please provide student or university email addresses. [1] http://www.bristol.ac.uk/environment/bristol_european_green_capital_2015 [2] http://www.climatechange2013.org/images/report/WG1AR5_SPM_FINAL.pdf [3] http://benthamopen.com/openaccess.php?toascj/articles/V002/217TOASCJ.htm [4] http://www.bristol.ac.uk/environment/policy/env_policy.pdf [5] http://gofossilfree.org/uk/about-fossil-free/ [6] http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v517/n7533/full/nature14016.html
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    Created by Rachel Simon
  • Divest Monash University from fossil fuels
    Monash University is one the leading universities in Australia. Numerous Monash researchers (many of them IPCC authors) contribute important research about climate change and its future impacts. The scientific consensus on climate change from these researchers is quite clear, climate change must urgently be addressed. What is needed now is decisive action. However, as atmospheric CO2 concentration levels crossed the 400 ppm threshold for the first time in human history (and in millions of years) and the world is already starting to feel the impacts of increasing extreme weather events, it is apparent that politicians, corporations, and the public in general are unable or unwilling to take meaningful steps to curb climate change, even using solutions that in many cases are already available. Instead, the problem is being deferred to future generations. Monash University has an opportunity to show leadership by divesting from investments in fossil fuels which are driving and accelerating world carbon emissions and obstructing meaningful action to curb climate change. Let's strengthen Monash University's already strong commitment to sustainability by going fossil-free.
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    Created by Kerry Nice
  • Fossil Free Sheffield
    As said so effectively by 350.org - "It’s simple math: we can emit 565 more gigatons of carbon dioxide and stay below 2°C of warming — anything more than that risks catastrophe for life on earth. The only problem? Burning the fossil fuel that corporations now have in their reserves would result in emitting 2,795 gigatons of carbon dioxide – five times the safe amount."
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    Created by Camilla Zerr