Hawaii to Norway to Scotland: Divestment Movement Racks Up Wins: Leaders Cite Destructive Nature of Coal and Oil Industries in Decision to Divest from Fossil Fuels

Fossil Fuel Free Rally (Friends of the Earth Scotland/flickr/cc)

by Nadia Prupis, staff writer, Common Dreams: http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/05/28/hawaii-norway-scotland-divestment-movement-racks-wins 

 

Rack up some more wins for divestment: the University of Hawaii System, the University of Edinburgh, and the Norwegian wealth fund have all within the last week answered the growing global call for institutions to cut ties with the fossil fuel industry.

Norway's parliamentary parties announced on Thursday that the government would divest its $900 billion sovereign wealth fund from coal, citing the industry's impact on climate change. According to the Associated Press, environmentalists estimate that about $11 billion of that fund - the largest endowment in the world and often referred to as the oil fund - is currently invested in coal.

Greenpeace Norway activist Truls Gulowsen told the AP, "We expect that billions of euros will be withdrawn from the coal industry, when this happens... This is a huge win for the divestment movement and a real sign of hope that investment patterns can be changed."

The rule is expected to be formally approved on June 5 with the full support of both the government and opposition parties. Norway's decision comes just days after the University of Edinburgh announced its plan to divest from three of the world's largest fossil fuel producers within six months.

Organizers with the Edinburgh People & Planet student group campaigned for three years to convince the university to divest its $455 million endowment fund from fossil fuels. Following a 10-day student occupation of its finance department, University of Edinburgh officials said on Tuesday that the school would pull funds from coal and tar sands, although they would grant the targeted companies four weeks to respond.

"Companies involved in coal and tar sands extraction are irrevocably damaging our climate and attempts to engage with them to mitigate their climate impacts have failed," Miriam Wilson, Fossil Free campaign coordinator at People & Planet, said at the time.

"Eighty-percent of coal reserves and all of the Canadian tar sands need to stay in the ground to avoid catastrophic climate change. We urge the University of Edinburgh to go beyond today's announcement and commit to full divestment within 5 years - nothing short of this is enough."

If nothing short of full divestment is the goal, the University of Hawaii heard that message loud and clear. The school last week announced its plan to end all of its fossil fuel holdings by 2018, which make up 5 to 7 percent of the school's $66 million endowment.

UH officials said they chose to divest for both economic and environmental reasons, but also cited "a moral and leadership rationale" in their final report (pdf) detailing the decision.

"If we need to reduce our footprint to prevent humanity from significant damage, we shouldn't invest in companies that continue to benefit from [carbon dioxide]," UH chair Randolph Moore told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. "We shouldn't bet against ourselves."

The move makes UH the largest higher education institution in the U.S. to divest from fossil fuels. In a press release, Dr. Joe Mobley, a marine biology professor and a faculty representative representative on the task group for divestment and sustainability, said the decision was "the perfect model of climate activism."

"Regents, faculty and students alike came together, shared their concerns over the scope and speed of climate change, particularly as it affects the Hawaiian Islands, then did something about it," Mobley said.

People Power, the Solution to Climate Inaction

by Rob McCreath, Common Dreams: http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/02/11/people-power-solution-climate-inaction

 

Global warming protest, Stockholm, Sweden. The sign says "Warning - climate chaos" (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Nothing is more important to farmers like me than the weather. It affects the growth and quality of our crops and livestock, and has a major impact on global food supply.

The world’s weather is being messed up by global warming, mainly caused by the burning of fossil fuels, which releases heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere.

 

If your bank lends money to coal, oil and gas projects, then take your business to one that doesn’t. It will put a smile on your face.

Every national science organisation in the developed world agrees that global warming is real and caused by human activities. That’s good enough for me.

If we keep on burning coal, oil and gas at ‘business as usual’ levels, our grandchildren will inhabit a planet some 5 degrees Celsius hotter by the end of the century - rendering large parts of it uninhabitable, including many currently densely populated areas, which will be under water due to melting glaciers and ice caps.

The impacts on farming in Australia (and everywhere else) of such a rise in temperature would be very severe indeed.

To avoid such a bleak future, we simply must stop putting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. If our politicians had any common sense, they would change quickly to renewable energy, but sadly they are captives of the fossil fuel industry that funds their re-election campaigns.

Just look at the Nationals, who in spite of claiming to represent farmers, this month declared donations of 30,000 dollars from oil & gas company Santos, 25,000 from coal miner Peabody, and 50,000 dollars from prominent climate change denier and coal & oil company director Ian Plimer.

So, for the sake of future generations, we have to make this change happen ourselves, and the best way to do this is to disrupt the business model of companies trying to make money from fossil fuels by pulling the financial rug out from underneath them.

It’s called divestment, which is simply the opposite of investment. Here’s how it works. If you’ve got shares in fossil fuel companies, then sell them and invest in something that won’t wreck the planet. If your super fund invests in fossil fuels, then transfer your money to a fund that doesn’t. If your bank lends money to coal, oil and gas projects, then take your business to one that doesn’t. It will put a smile on your face.

The global movement to divest from fossil fuels is gaining momentum, and the more people that take part, the better it works. Share prices (just like wheat and cattle prices) are set by supply and demand, so as more people sell, the price falls.

When a company’s share price falls far enough, it finds it more difficult to borrow money, with which to fund its next coal mine. Take oil and gas company Santos, for example. Due mainly to the recent plunge in oil prices, in the past six months its share price has dropped by almost 50%.

As a result, the company has announced plans to cut back on expenditure and reduce its operations. On the flip side, the more money that flows into companies involved in renewable energy, energy efficiency and green technology, the faster they will grow and the sooner we can put a lid on runaway climate change.

A brave new world awaits. Let’s divest together and change the future!

Global Divestment Day will be taking place on Feb. 13-14. Hundreds of events spanning six continents will be taking place. Join an event near you. For more information visit: gofossilfree.org

 

© 2015 IPS North America

Rob McCreath is a farmer in Queensland, Australia.