That’s a big picture perspective, presented starkly to attract some attention.\u00a0 Sadly, few people feel the pressure, but that doesn’t mean it’s not the right thing to do.\u00a0 Let’s have a look at some of the detail.<\/p>\n
A 2012 article in Rolling Stone<\/a> , by Bill McKibben of 350.org<\/a>, galvanised a fossil fuel divestment campaign that spread to at least 250 US colleges and universities.\u00a0 According to a recently published Oxford University report<\/a>, more than 40 endowments of colleges and universities have divested their holdings in fossil fuel companies.\u00a0 It appears that a visible, vocal expression\u00a0 of the desire to support alternative energy by key stakeholders made a difference to the investment policy of endowments of academic organisations.<\/p>\n But it was not easy.\u00a0 It is shockingly sad that Harvard University, an eminent leader in education, completely discounts ethics from its policy.\u00a0 Harvard President Drew Faust elaborated in a letter<\/a> on the college’s refusal to divest. \u201cAs shareholders, I believe we should favor engagement over withdrawal. … In the case of fossil fuel companies, we should think about how we might use our voice not to ostracize such companies but to encourage them to be a positive force both in meeting society\u2019s long-term energy needs while addressing pressing environmental imperatives.”\u00a0 It is self-serving, immoral, Machiavellian argument since the evidence of energy companies hindering advancement of alternative fuels proves the Harvard policy to be ineffective.<\/p>\n In fact, in a recently published paper<\/a>, the sustainable investment firm NorthStar Asset Management concluded, \u201cShareholder efforts to convince fossil fuel firms to expand into alternative energy businesses have proven ineffectual and, as a result some fossil fuel firms have even stopped trying. SRI investors and their fiduciaries also have a responsibility to consider the cost of NOT divesting\u2014on people and the planet, as well as on profit.\u201d\u00a0 This suggests that shareholder engagement is virtually impotent.<\/p>\n The two signals show that individuals changing their investment portfolios is the only way to make a difference.\u00a0 If energy companies face falling equity values as investors divest, they will either change their behaviour and target alternatives, or they will wither.<\/p>\n It’s us or them.\u00a0 Either we divest from fossil fuel companies and save the planet and ourselves, or we continue to support fossil fuel companies, continue to destroy the biosphere and we die.<\/p>\n 350.org: Divestment guide<\/a><\/p>\n Report by Kachan & Co. and non-profits As You Sow and the Responsible Endowments Coalition: Cleantech Redefined Why the Next Wave of Cleantech Infrastructure, Technology and Services Will Thrive in the 21st Century<\/a><\/p>\n Social Funds: Fossil Fuel Divestment only the First Step <\/a><\/p>\n Social Funds:\u00a0As Fossil Fuel Divestment Grows, Cleantech Offers Opportunities for Investors<\/a><\/p>\n Social Funds: Engage or Divest? <\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" That’s a big picture perspective, presented starkly to attract some attention.\u00a0 Sadly, few people feel the pressure, but that doesn’t mean it’s not the right thing to do.\u00a0 Let’s have a look at some of the detail. A 2012 article in Rolling Stone , by Bill McKibben of 350.org, galvanised a fossil fuel divestment campaign …
Continue reading Divest fossil fuel holdings, or die.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,6,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-energy","category-environment","category-responsible-investing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4hwcd-vE","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.astraea.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.astraea.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.astraea.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.astraea.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.astraea.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1962"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.astraea.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1966,"href":"https:\/\/www.astraea.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1962\/revisions\/1966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.astraea.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.astraea.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.astraea.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}