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  Divest Kassel - Kein Geld für Waffen, Kohle, Öl und Gas!

  Als Divest Kassel setzen wir auf die politische und moralische Wirkung eines öffentlichen Divestments. Sich zum Divestment zu bekennen, stellt eine klare Positionierung für den Klimaschutz und für ein friedliches Miteinander dar. Auf diese Weise Stellung zu beziehen, zielt auf den Ruf der Konzerne und soll ihren Lobbyeinfluss begrenzen. Die Stadt Kassel nimmt ihre Verantwortung für den Klimaschutz bisher nur lückenhaft wahr. Die Verantwortung hört zum Beispiel nicht bei Finanzfragen auf, sondern muss diese mit einschließen! Für einen konsequenten Klimaschutz, der der Verantwortung für die Allgemeinheit und für zukünftige Generationen gerecht wird, sollte daher auch das Anlagevermögen nach Kriterien des Klimaschutzes umgestaltet werden. Es reicht nicht, Urban Gardening und Fahrradverkehr mit kleinen Finanzspritzen zu fördern und gleichzeitig die Möglichkeit offen zu lassen, dass die Pensionsrücklagen mit den Profiten der fossilen Energiebranche oder der Rüstungsindustrie anwachsen. Nachhaltigkeit und Klimaschutz müssen ganzheitlich über alle Sektoren gedacht werden, wobei die Finanzen einen wichtigen Hebel darstellen. "Genug Klimaschutz" gibt es angesichts der dramatischen Konsequenzen des Business-As-Usual im Rahmen des Klimawandels nicht! Im Pariser Klimavertrag hat sich auch die Bundesregierung dazu bekannt, das 2°-Limit deutlich zu unterschreiten und Anstrengungen zu unternehmen, den Temperaturanstieg auf 1,5° Celsius zu begrenzen. Das heißt im Klartext: keinerlei neuen Investitionen in jegliche Kohle-, Öl- oder Gasinfrastruktur und frühzeitiges Ende der bestehenden Förderungen. Denn allein die Ausbeutung der heute bereits produzierenden Lagerstätten werden uns schon über diese Limits katapultieren. Von dieser absehbaren Mensch-Umwelt-Katastrophe dürfen wir nicht profitieren, sondern müssen jede Anstrengung unternehmen, sie zu verhindern. Als Divest Kassel sehen wir es darüber hinaus angesichts der örtlichen Rüstungsindustrie und deren aktuellen skandalösen Verstrickungen in Konflikte wie im Norden Syriens oder Saudi-Arabien / Jemen als dringend notwendig an, die Deinvestition aus dieser Branche zu fordern, um so ein Statement für Abrüstung und mehr Frieden in der Welt zu setzen. Denn wenn der Klimawandel und Kriege zu verurteilen sind, dann ist es auch falsch, davon zu profitieren! Weitere Informationen und Hintergründe zum Nachlesen im Argumentationspapier von Divest Kassel: http://divestkassel.blogsport.eu/files/2018/03/argumentationspapier_divest-kassel_2018-02-26.pdf

  6 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Kerstin Lopau
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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

  1,780 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Tara Clarke
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  Let's renew the Politecnico di Milano - stop fossil fuels!

  We want that our university, the most important eningeering university in Italy, to focus (during our education) most on renewable energy, not only on fossil fuels energy. Now the biggest part of the education program is based on "traditional" sources of energy, such as gas and coal. We need to teach to the future of our Country the importance of the renewable energy! As signed in Paris in 2015, we MUST change our vision of energy for the future. We ask to the Politecnico di Milano to increase the time and the quality of the renewabe energy teaching. We are the future, and we demand to teach the future in our university. 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.

  55 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Michele Argenta
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  Hertfordshire County Council: Divest from fossil fuels

  1. Hertfordshire County Council Pension Fund has around £140,000,000 invested in fossil fuel industries, including BG Group PLC, Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Rio Tinto PLC. 2. The pension fund affects over 180 employers in Hertfordshire including Hertfordshire County Council (including schools), North Herts District Council, Dacorum Borough Council, East Hertfordshire District Council, Hertsmere Borough Council. Broxbourne Borough Council, St Albans District Council, Stevenage Borough Council, Three Rivers District Council, Watford Borough Council and a range of community and voluntary groups. See here for list http://divestherts.org/ 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. Global warming is happening now - it is not a thing of the future; thanks to our appetite for fossil fuels we’ve already experienced a global temperature rise of about 1°C since the Industrial Revolution.[1] The effects of this rise in temperature are already being felt, causing more frequent and intense extreme weather events, including more tropical storms in some areas, but drought in others. Climatic changes and oceans becoming more acidic due to absorbing excess carbon dioxide present a real threat to whole ecosystems. It’s not just bad for the environment, it’s putting people's lives at risk too due to food and water insecurity and is creating climate change refugees.[2] 4. In order to stop the global climate warming by another 2 °C, 80% of all known fossil fuels must stay in the ground.[3] However, despite all the evidence showing that we need to transition to cleaner forms of energy, fossil fuel companies are continuing to extract dirty fossil fuels, and making huge profits in the process.[4] 5. Investments in fossil fuels are also risky. Recent fluctuations in oil prices means that divesting from fossil fuels would minimise the council's exposure to the financial risk of the 'carbon bubble', whereby companies risk being left with stranded assets (worthless fuel stocks that regulation will prevent from being burned). People and institutions that own shares in the companies will see the value of their investments decrease. (5) 6. By removing investments in these companies Hertfordshire County Council will be showing its commitment to creating a healthy, sustainable future for both the people of Hertfordshire and the planet as a whole. 7. Institutions across the world including churches and universities, 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. [6] Let's see Hertfordshire join them in making this small but impactful commitment. [1] http://350.org/about/science/ [2] http://climatemigration.org.uk/about-us/ [3] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30709211 [4] http://priceofoil.org/tag/fossil-fuel-industry-profits/ [5] http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/28f00388-0df3-11e5-9a65-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3mHL64WyD [6]http://gofossilfree.org/commitments/

  356 of 400 Signatures

  Created by Gwen Buck
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  Divest Strathclyde Pension Fund from fossil fuel investments

  Fossil fuels - coal, oil and gas - are the main drivers of climate change. In order to keep climate change at bay, we need to halt our extractions of fossil fuels, and must break our public institutions' financials ties with the fossil fuel industry. During the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21), in Paris in December, 2015, 196 Nations agreed to keep global warming well below 2°C and attempt to “limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees”. This is a turning point for the energy industry since fossil fuels will need to be phased out, and there needs to be a shift towards clean energy in order to achieve the target of zero net emissions by 2050. The outcome of the Paris agreement has thus drawn a critical line for the fossil fuel industry: to prevent a temperature rise over 2°C, 80 % of existing fossil fuel reserves MUST stay underground. Currently, Strathclyde Pension Fund (SPF) holds almost £20 billion in total investments, of which over £802 million are currently invested into the fossil fuel industry. [1] It delivers to over 222,0000 members and more than 180 organisations from 12 local authorities that are included in the former Strathclyde Area. The SPF has stated that their ‘"traditional approach to responsible investment has been, by and large, top-down - ensuring that environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) concerns in our portfolios are recognised and addressed". Yet, the fund is still deeply invested in the main drivers for climate change and social injustice. We call on SPF's immediate freeze of new investments into fossil fuel industries as well as divestment of all current holdings in it. By doing so, SPF would show their ethical and financial responsibility to their members and join 852 public institutions and councils across the world, including Derby, South Yorkshire and Oxford City Councils, Monmouthshire County Council, the City of New York, the Universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, UWS and Glasgow Caledonian, The British Medical Association and the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund. [2] As the environmentalist, Bill McGibbon, says: "If it’s wrong to wreck the planet, then it’s wrong to profit from that wreckage." Thank you for your support, and please share this petition to allow for more people to sign. [1] https://foe.scot/resource/councils-fuelling-fire/ [2] https://gofossilfree.org/divestment/commitments/ [3] https://gofossilfree.org/do-the-math-fossil-fuel-investments-add-up-to-climate-chaos/

  232 of 300 Signatures

  Created by Fossil Free Glasgow
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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

  2,397 of 3,000 Signatures

  Created by Zero Carbon Cambridge
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  Divest Brent Council from Fossil Fuels

  We believe divestment from fossil fuels to be not only ethically and environmentally correct, but also financially prudent. Climate change is the greatest challenge humanity has encountered. The 20 hottest years on record have all occurred since 1981 and 2016 was the hottest ever [1]. Higher average temperatures are directly linked to extreme weather events such as heat waves, droughts, floods and storms. Scientists have unanimously concluded that these changes are a consequence of human activity, arising from the burning of fossil fuels [2]. Moreover, this activity has resulted in unprecedented levels of air pollution, now regarded as a major world killer [3]. In a speech at Lloyd’s of London in September 2015, Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England said that by the time ‘climate change becomes a defining issue for financial stability, it may already be too late’. Carney warned investors that policies to address climate change ‘would render the vast majority of reserves ‘stranded’ – oil, gas and coal that will be literally unburnable’ [4]. In order to continue developing fossil fuel reserves – particularly in the difficult areas where the remaining reserves are located (including the Arctic, the mouth of the Amazon and tar sands in sensitive areas) the developing companies need investment – divestment is a way of cutting off the funds needed to carry out these damaging activities. It also sends a powerful signal to the companies and others that it is time to move away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy. References: [0] http://tinyurl.com/lmskfgk [1] http://tinyurl.com/y9tkm4sn [2] http://tinyurl.com/3e3zv [3] http://tinyurl.com/pqgdd5q [4] http://tinyurl.com/ycspl5sg

  180 of 200 Signatures

  Created by Simon Erskine
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  Divest Norfolk Pension Fund from Fossil Fuels

  There is strong evidence (1) that the impact on climate change of burning even the known reserves of fossil fuels will create an unsustainable environment for the generations to come, and untold suffering to countless living beings. This fact will impact negatively on the value of investments in the industries concerned with fossil fuel extraction. Using just the fossil fuel reserves listed on the world’s stock markets would be enough to take us beyond 2°C of global warming (2). This means that more than 80 per cent of the world's known coal reserves, 30 per cent of known oil and 50 per cent of gas reserves need to stay in the ground and drilling in the Arctic is out of the question if we're to stay below two degrees. Recent drops in the oil price add to the uncertainty surrounding fossil fuels and the financial viability of some extractions presenting opportunities to lessen our dependency on fossil fuels (3). In defiance of mainstream research evidence and international policy (4), fossil fuel companies continue to extract and burn as much carbon as possible to maximise their profits. Despite the very high probability of planetary disaster they show no intention of switching away from their core business model. Our local council has a responsibility to divest from an industry that’s destroying the very future for ourselves and for our children that personal investment in a pension seeks to enhance. Instead it should reinvest in solutions to climate change. We won’t see any political progress on climate change until we can weaken the power of the fossil fuel industry. Divestment for fossil fuel investments would also minimise the council's exposure to the financial risk of the 'carbon bubble', whereby shareholders risk being left with stranded assets (worthless fuel stocks that regulation will prevent from being burned). It is a paradox that pension funds providing income for the future should at the same time be investing in the fossil fuel industry which if left to its own devices will exploit more of the fossil fuel reserves than we can safely use! Institutions around the world including local government, universities and churches are pulling out of fossil fuel investments and moving towards a clean energy future (5) It's time to divest from fossil fuels and reinvest in clean energy now for inescapable moral and economic reasons. Shareholders (including pension funds) have started to challenge Exxon, Shell and BP to show how their business model is compatible with a 2 degree temperature rise (6). Some argue that engaging with fossil fuel companies is a more effective tactic than divestment. But Jonathon Porritt, one of the UK’s most esteemed environmentalists who spent years working on sustainability projects with BP and Shell, earlier this year said engagement was now futile because “hydrocarbon supremacists” at the companies had successfully ousted reformers wanting to diversify into green energy. Divestment, therefore, seems to be an unavoidable step to halting the damage and suffering which will ensue unless timely action is taken. 1 http://350.org/about/science/ 2 http://math.350.org/ 3 http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22530043.100-over-a-barrel-falling-oil-prices-and-the-environment.html http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22029415.700-an-oil-crash-is-on-its-way-and-we-should-be-ready.html#.VNI0c9kgGc0 4 http://www.ipcc.ch/ 5 http://zerocarbonbritain.org/index.php/zcb-latest-report 6 http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/21/bp-challenged-confront-climate-change-risk-by-shareholders Thanks to Holly from the campaign to divest Avon pension fund for letting us use their text.

  338 of 400 Signatures

  Created by Matthew White
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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.

  653 of 800 Signatures

  Created by Patricia Walker
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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.

  1,015 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by LSU Ethics and Environment
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