Fossil Free Canada
100 signatures reached
To: The University of Waterloo Board of Governors
University of Waterloo: Divest from Fossil Fuels
We, the undersigned - as students, workers, and alumni at the University of Waterloo, along with concerned citizens - call upon the university to respond to the seriousness of climate change by making a statement of principle immediately affirming their intention to divest from fossil fuel companies, to immediately stop investing new money in the industry, and to spend the next five years winding down existing holdings.
Why is this important?
In order to avoid dangerous climate change, the world needs to redirect investment from fossil fuels to alternative forms of energy that are compatible with climate safety.
Governments and organizations around the world have recognized warming of 2˚C as the threshold where climate change will become dangerous. If we want to stay below that limit, we can emit no more than 565 billion tonnes (gigatonnes) of carbon dioxide. Global fossil reserves contain 2,795 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide, more than enough to drive humanity off the 2˚C trajectory.
Furthermore, these ‘unburnable’ fossil fuel reserves are currently valued as if they will all be burned, at as much as $20 trillion. The value of fossil fuel companies and their business models are based on plans to burn these reserves; maintaining a livable climate requires building a consensus that these reserves will be stranded while accepting their financial valuations is accepting climate catastrophe. We wish to join the foundations and pensions that have pledged to divest funds valued at $2.6 trillion from fossil fuels, and demonstrated divestment is practically feasible.
Investment in fossil fuel corporations facilitates the development of fossil fuel reserves, which must remain underground in order to avoid dangerous climate change.