Nearby Petitions

Colleges & Universities

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  Durham University: Divest from Fossil Fuels

  At the moment Durham University has an investment policy that states that they won't invest in arms or tobacco companies. But no such policy against investing in fossil fuel companies exists. Carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels results in the heating of the atmosphere. A rise of more than 2˚C in global temperatures is enough to put the world beyond the acceptable limits as outlined by scientists. Fossil fuel companies already have proven reserves of five times the amount needed to take us past this limit. At the moment the share price of fossil fuel companies is based on the idea that all the reserves held by fossil fuel companies will be burnt. This situation is of course not viable given the severely detrimental impact it will have on the environment. This disparity between the safely useable reserves and the proven reserves results in fossil fuel companies being not as safe a long-term investment as they are held up to be. Given the massive amounts of damage fossil fuel companies do to the lives of people around the world, the obvious environmental costs of the industry and the long term instability of fossil fuels as an investment, Durham University People & Planet Society are calling on the university to divest any money it has invested in fossil fuel companies and to add fossil fuels to the list of things in which it will not invest in the future.

  465 of 500 Signatures

  Created by Durham University People and Planet Society
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  Make the University of Leeds Fossil Free!

  To put the University of Leeds 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 https://www.facebook.com/groups/pandpleeds/?fref=ts https://www.leeds.ac.uk/secretariat/documents/socially_responsible_investment.pdf

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  Created by Edie Boon
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  Stop University of Derby investing £1,579,677 in Fossil fuel industries

  Fossil Fuels have a devastating negative effect on the environment, as the production and the consumption contributes significantly to global climate change. They are responsible for the increasing amount of harmful chemicals such as carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. We should be investing in renewable energy sources rather than directly supporting and funding corporations such as British Petroleum (BP), who are accountable for environmental disasters such The Deepwater Horizon Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. As an institute of Higher education how can we publicly support such corporations that attempt to green wash the facts?

  248 of 300 Signatures

  Created by Saskia Taylor- Doyle
• Divest Aberystwyth University from fossil fuels

  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! 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.

  73 of 100 Signatures

  Created by James Pickerin
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  Swansea University: Divest from Fossil Fuels!

  The world in which the students of Swansea University are to graduate into is currently threatened by the reality of climate change. Already the world is suffering the effects of 1°C rise in global average temperatures. Last year, Arctic sea-ice cover had retreated to its lowest levels since the beginning of satellite records, and the average global sea level was 1.4in above the 1993-2010 average. The world is experiencing more severe draught, wildfires and flooding, which impact the world's poorest most severely; the World Health Organisation estimates that climate change is causing at least 140,000 deaths per year. The fossil fuel industry is unequivocally driving us towards a global climate crisis, and we will not keep dangerous climate change at bay without halting our extraction of fossil-fuels. The university has both a moral and a financial duty to its students to withdraw its investments from the fossil fuel industry. The moral case is clear: if it is wrong to wreck the climate, then it is wrong to profit from that wreckage. Furthermore, fossil fuels are a dangerous investment. The value of companies like Shell, BP and Chevron is based on the assumption that they will be able to dig up and sell their fossil fuel reserves. But if the world gets serious about stopping climate change, that would mean keeping 80% of proven fossil fuel reserves in the ground, and the assumption that forms the basis for these companies' value will be undermined. We call on Swansea University to lead the way on this issue, and protect the future of its students by divesting from the fossil fuel industry now.

  824 of 1,000 Signatures

  Created by Swansea People and Planet
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  Make Cardiff University Divest From Fossil Fuels!

  From a Freedom of Information request, we learned that Cardiff University currently invests around two million pounds of its total endowment funds in the Fossil Fuel industry (Shell, BG Group, BHP Billiton etc). Divesting from this industry will withdraw moral support from the Fossil Fuel industry and show Cardiff University's support for a more sustainable future. Cardiff University has already divested from the Arms and Tobacco industry, and it has a number of world leading researchers working in sustainability. The Fossil Fuel industry has a disproportionate influence on government policy and independent institutions like universities through lobbying and funding. As Climate Change has been verified by 97% of climate scientists, (according to a recent IPCC report) it is essential to begin cutting political and economic ties with this industry, so that the democratic process has a chance to avert the catastrophe which we are heading towards. We are not powerless in the struggle to protect our planet from uncontrollable climate chaos, and we can use divestment as a way to send a strong political message through our institutions- including Cardiff University.

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  Created by Jack Pickering
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  Divest the Rest For a Fossil Free ANU

  UPDATE: ANU's divestment decision makes it a climate leader? Think again. Last year ANU attracted a torrent of community support, after it stood up to the divestment bullies. But the reality is ANU only sold shares in 7 resources companies, only 2 of which were in the fossil fuel industry. It held onto shares in the biggest and dirtiest oil and coal companies. As the climate crisis escalates, so does the global divestment movement. ANU should be a climate leader. But it has to earn it - time to Divest the Rest! Previously, we wrote: ANU is a recognised leader on sustainability research and teaching. It has numerous commitments to sustainable development, both on campus and in broader activities. So why on this threatened earth does ANU keep investing in coal, oil and coal seam gas? It's unacceptable and, frankly, embarrassing. But ANU can turn this around. It's time to show some leadership on this vital issue and become the first Australian University to go fossil free.

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  Created by Tom Swann
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  Université Catholique de Louvain - désinvestissons !

  Nous sommes aujourd'hui face à un défi tant pour l'humanité que pour le reste de la vie telle que nous la connaissons. Il s'agit d'un défi à la fois terrifiant (car les enjeux sont gigantesques) et formidable, car si nous réussissons la transformation de notre société celle-ci peut véritablement mener à une révolution dans notre manière de vivre et de penser pour aller vers un monde plus juste, plus beau, meilleur. Il est temps de montrer par tous les signaux possibles que les alternatives existent, et qu'il faut créer une nouvelle économie, qui ne sera pas synonyme de moins de bien-être, bien au contraire. Désinvestir des énergies fossiles c'est tourner le dos à un passé destructeur et ouvrir les bras à un avenir où le travail sert à construire, pas à détruire ! Les arguments pour le désinvestissement sont éthiques, scientifiques et économiques. -> Le réchauffement climatique est causé par l'homme et il est nécessaire d'agir pour le limiter au seuil maximum fixé de 2°C (voire même de 1.5°C) afin d'éviter des conséquences catastrophiques dont nous pouvons dès à présent percevoir les premiers effets. En tant que pays développés, notre responsabilité est majeure. -> Arrêter d'investir dans les énergies fossiles ne va pas affecter la rentabilité des placements. Bien au contraire, puisque l'on parle de plus en plus de la « bulle carbone ». En effet, si l'on veut respecter l'Accord de Paris de 2015 (selon lequel le seuil maximal de réchauffement ne doit pas dépasser les 2°C), il sera nécessaire de laisser 80 % des réserves des énergies fossiles sous terre, alors même que celles-ci ont été découvertes, et la plupart du temps achetées par des organismes dans lesquels des personnes/ institutions ont investi. -> Les énergies renouvelables sont de plus en plus compétitives et aujourd'hui investir dans un portfolio sans énergies fossiles ne rapporte pas moins qu’avec. -> L'UCL a un rôle en tant qu'institution publique et nous, en tant qu'étudiant.e.s, mais surtout en tant que citoyen.ne.s, nous avons le devoir d'interpeller nos dirigeants, et dans le cas présent le Conseil d’Administration de l'UCL, sur la situation de dépendance dans laquelle nous nous sommes englués depuis trop longtemps vis à vis de ces énergies polluantes.

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  Created by Louise Peltier
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  Divest Southern Illinois University from Fossil Fuels

  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.

  12 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Matt Ryg
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  Fossil Free Umeå universitet

  Umeå universitet är ett statligt universitet. Därför tycker vi att det är rimligt att universitetet agerar för allmänhetens bästa. Vi tycker att ett universitet bör representera ungdomar och symbolisera framtiden. Att investera pengar i och göra profit på fossila företag som Lundin Petroleum och Exxon Mobile anser vi är direkt skadligt för planeten och unga människors framtid. Dessa kampanjer är ett litet steg mot att försvaga en industri som har alldeles för stort inflytande i vårt samhälle och på vår framtid. Även om Umeå universitets kapital och inflytande nästan är försvinnande litet i ett globalt perspektiv så är en divestering ett praktiskt ställningstagande som förändrar normer och attityder som gynnar miljörörelsen. Tillsammans kan vi bilda opinion mot de fossila företagen. Vi hoppas verkligen att Umeå universitet ska hålla med oss och stödja kampanjen. Håller du med oss? Var då snäll och skriv under namnlistan tack. IN ENGLISH Umeå university is public and owned by the state. That's why we think it's reasonable that the university should act towards the best interest of the public. We think that a university should represent young people and symbolise the future. To invest capital in fossil fuel companies such as Lundin Petroleum and Exxon mobile is in our opinion a threat to the planet and to the future of young people. Campaigns such as this one take small steps towards weakening the fossil fuel industry which has far too much power and influence over our society and our future. The aim of the divestment is to change the norms of the society which would benefit from this and other environmental movements, even if the capital and influence of Umeå university is tiny in a global perspective. Together we can form public opinon that questions the fossil fuel companies. We certainly hope that Umeå university will agree with us. Do you agree with us? Please sign the petition.

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  Created by Niklas Edeborg