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  • Wellesley 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 Wellesley College to 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 Wellesley 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 Rosalie Sharp
  • Divest Connecticut from Fossil Fuels!
    The science is clear that humans are accelerating and intensifying the effects of climate change because of our insatiable comsumption of fossil fuels. We need to act now and act swiftly to reduce greenhouse gas emissions so that our children and grandchildren can realize a life on a livable planet. Connecticut taxpayers are paying for climate change - recovery funds to repair our state from Hurricane Sandy's destruction, lost revenue from a Long Island experiencing rising tides and water temperatures, floods on our rivers and streams, impacts to our farmers and our agricultural industry. Why would we pay tens of millions to try and recover from Hurricane Sandy and at the same time support those corporations making the next Hurricane inevitable? Fossil fuel companies are a bad investment for the planet, for the State of Connecticut, and for the pocketbook/wallet of the people who vote you in/out of office. 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. Experts agree that global warming will continue to accelerate and intensify these tragic 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. Regarding the pocketbook, market analysts at HSBC have warned oil and gas majors, including BP, Shell and Statoil, that they could face a loss in market value of up to 60% should the international community stick to agreed emissions reduction targets. Their prediction is based on an ‘unburnable carbon’ scenario – a scenario where oil and gas falls to keep atmospheric concentration below 450 ppm. The analysts argue that the oil market is still failing to think about a low carbon future – ‘because of its long-term nature, we doubt the market is pricing in the risk of a loss of value from this issue’.
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    Created by Charles Button Picture
  • 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.
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    Created by Patricia Walker Picture
  • University of Wisconsin-Green Bay: Divest from Fossil Fuels!
    Climate change is widely agreed by the scientists and policymakers who understand it best to be the most significant threat facing humanity, both now and in the long term. Climate change poses many severe, wide-ranging and complicated ecological and human issues, and is a problem that is not going to disappear anytime soon. Indeed, it will only continue to worsen if the status quo is maintained and we continue down the same destructive path that we have been on since the dawn of the industrial era. However, there is hope. By significantly altering the way in which our society operates, we can reduce the negative impacts of climate change and protect our species and our planet from destruction. One such way to do this here on campus is through divestment, or the selling of university investments tied up in the fossil fuel industry. This includes companies whose primary business involves the extraction, refinement, distribution, or any other type of direct business engagement with fossil fuels, a category which is made up of the natural resources of oil, coal, and natural gas. These investments in the fossil fuel industry are oftentimes in enormous international corporations whose activities frequently wreak havoc on the environment and various peoples around the globe. By divesting, we would send a powerful message that we do not agree with the blind continuation of a fossil-fuel based society, and that we will not stand idly by while business as usual continues to ravage the planet. At the same time, we would be freeing up university resources to instead invest in more sustainable and forward-thinking companies. Through partaking in this divestment process, we would be living up to our nickname of "Eco-U" and helping to ensure a cleaner, safer, and overall brighter future for everyone.
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    Created by Brian Wagenaar
  • Que la ville de Cenon agisse pour le desinvestissement de l'argent public dans l'energie fossile
    Le changement climatique est un enjeu tant au niveau global que local et les réponses doivent venir de toutes les échelles. Les conséquences d’un tel réchauffement seraient, vous le savez, désastreuses ; et toucheraient tous les pays et tous les territoires, dont le nôtre. Il est aujourd’hui du rôle des pouvoirs publics de saisir l’importance de l’enjeu climatique et de prendre les mesures radicales nécessaires pour faire face à cet enjeu, tout particulièrement alors que les coûts de l’adaptation nous échoient, en tant que contribuables et collectivités.
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    Created by RDT Cenon Rive Droite en Transition
  • Fossil Free Dundee
    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. For this to happen, study after study has demonstrated that 80% of currently known fossil fuel reserves must remain in the ground. 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 –. All moral and financial arguments point to the same thing – divestment from fossil fuels.
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    Created by Zoe MacKenzie Picture
  • Divest Lothian
    We all deserve a future worth retiring for, but fossil fuels threaten that future, both here in the Lothians and around the world. It's time for the Lothian Pension Fund to make a strong commitment to sustainability. Scientists are clear that the burning of fossil fuels - coal, oil and gas - is the main driver of warming around the world, the effects of which can already be seen in hurricanes in the Caribbean, wildfires in the US and Europe and catastrophic flooding in Asia. More warming will cause increasing devastation. The Lothian Pensions Fund invests £153 million in fossil fuel companies like BP and Shell, whose business plans, and the valuations of their shares, are based on a world which continues to warm. Efforts to tackle climate change, such as banning fracking and phasing out fossil fuel-powered cars, make the future for fossil fuel companies more risky. The Governor of the Bank of England has warned that the "vast majority of [fossil fuel] reserves are unburnable" if climate change is to be limited to safe levels as pledged by the world's governments. By investing in the companies most responsible for climate change funds risk significant losses, fail to protect members' best interests, and miss an opportunity to take leadership on sustainability. By committing to divest, the Lothian Pension fund would join responsible investors including the Cities of New York and Paris. Over twenty Scottish MPs, including Ian Blackford, Christine Jardine and Ian Murray, have also supported disinvestment of their own pension fund.
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    Created by Susan Hamilton
  • Divest Louisville From Fossil Fuels
    Global CO2 concentrations have just crossed the dangerous 400ppm milestone. Our local government has a responsibility to divest from an industry that’s destroying our future, and reinvest in solutions to climate change. Continued investment in the impending "carbon bubble" is morally, ecologically, AND financially reckless. If Louisville really wants to be the leader it claims, it should join Seattle, WA, Madison, WI, Bayfield, WI, Ithaca, NY, Boulder, CO, State College, PA, Eugene, OR, Richmond, CA, Berkeley, CA, and San Francisco, CA in publicly committing to divest from fossil fuel investments. We can not count on the federal government, even as extreme weather events like Louisville's record spring/summer heat of 2012 and record rainfall of 2011 overwhelm local budgets. We have the solutions, but we won’t see any political progress on the issue until we can weaken the power of the fossil fuel industry. This holds particularly true here in Kentucky - a state deeply beholden to coal. The bottom line is this: divestment is the only moral choice for governments that care about their citizens. Solving the climate crisis is the only practical choice for governments that care about their solvency. Here is a brilliant short video and interactive map that drives home the point: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/interactive/2013/apr/19/countries-exposed-carbon-bubble-map In every way, the "smart money" is NOT on fossil fuels. It's time to divest from fossil fuels now!
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    Created by Ben Evans Picture
  • FULLY DIVEST LSE FROM FOSSIL FUELS
    Time and again it has been scientifically proven that climate change triggered by the increase of CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere is directly linked to human industrial activity that is powered by the burning of fossil fuels. To stabilise atmospheric CO2 concentrations and thereby minimise the hard to predict impacts of rising global temperatures, we need to take action right now. Therefore, we the students of LSE are asking the school to disclose its endowment fund investments. If the portfolio contains investments in fossil fuel focussed companies, we will work with the the school to shift its focus towards low carbon technology and clean energy companies. We must mitigate the anthropogenic effect by addressing where our institution is investing its money.
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    Created by Collective of environmentally conscious LSE students
  • 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