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Africa/Global: Fossil-Fuel Divestment Growing
AfricaFocus Bulletin
November 11, 2014 (141111)
(Reposted from sources cited below)
Editor's Note
The latest international scientific statement on the
disastrous and potentially irreversible damage from climate
change is unambiguous, as is the imperative for drastic
action to curb greenhouse gas emissions. But political
obstacles to moving from rhetoric to action are virtually
unchanged, despite massive demonstrations coinciding with
the UN climate summit in late September. The dispersed
fossil-fuel divestment movement, however, although still too small to
curb the industry, is growing rapidly.
This AfricaFocus highlights recent developments in the fastgrowing
fossil-fuel divestment movement aimed at countering
the dominance of the fossil-fuel energy and its destructive
effects on the planet.
Another AfricaFocus Bulletin, not sent out by email but
available on the web at http://www.africafocus.org/docs14/cc1411a.php, contains two
short reports on the latest IPCC climate report in
accessible language by Joe Romm, editor of the Climate
Progress blog and by Martin Khor, the executive director of
the South Centre. It also contains a "summary of the
summary," that is, highlighted points in the original
wording extracted from the 40-page Approved Summary for
Policymakers.
For a commentary on the September UN summit and climate
demonstrations in New York, see Mithika Mwenda, Pan African
Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA; http://www.pacja.org), "New
York Climate Summits Were a Contest Between Leaders and
People," October 7, 2014 http://allafrica.com/stories/201410101222.html
Eight of ten countries most at risk from climate change are
in Africa. See http://tinyurl.com/kkaqvno (Independent, Nov.
7)
For talking points and previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on the
environment and climate change, visit
http://www.africafocus.org/intro-env.php
Ebola Perspectives
[AfricaFocus is regularly monitoring and posting links on
Ebola on social media. A few are included here. For
additional links, see http://www.facebook.com/AfricaFocus]
As the spread of Ebola from the few cases in the United
States appears to be stopped, and the pace of epidemic has
eased in Liberia, the worst-affected country, news coverage
has diminished. But the epidemic is far from over, and
those actively fighting Ebola warn that complacency, further
slowing the pace of the still sluggish international
response, would be a deadly error.
Among recent updates:
Mali succeeding in limiting spread from initial case
New York Times, Nov. 11, http://tinyurl.com/n4blxxv
Cases rising rapidly in Sierra Leone (Reuters, Nov. 6,
http://tinyurl.com/l2e7aw4; Guardian, Nov. 10,
http://tinyurl.com/ks6ohah) and in Guinea (NPR, Nov. 7,
http://tinyurl.com/k9mvnxh)
Not enough to stop Ebola, must build health systems for
future (NBC, Nov. 9, http://tinyurl.com/pmtlmcn)
++++++++++++++++++++++end editor's note+++++++++++++++++
November Divest Digest: Global Divestment is for Pioneers:
Fossil Free USA, November 7, 2014
http://gofossilfree.org/ / direct URL:
http://tinyurl.com/oshc3u8
Wide-ranging roundup of new divestment initiatives,
successes. A few excerpts below. Go to link for more,
including photos
18+ US Campuses Out To Unkoch Themselves (USA)
On November 3, 2014, over 20 campuses across the United
States stood up and demanded their university
administrations reconsider the funding they receive from
major corporate donors. This pushback directly targets the
correlation between funders' money and their intentions to
embed their own preferences and interests into student
research and education.
Student actions ranged from teach-ins, the filing of a
Freedom of Information Act to disclose funders and
allocations, and protests to raise student awareness and
exert pressure on universities to extricate themselves from
the influence of major corporate donors such as the Koch
Brothers. Greenpeace has documented that over $50 million
has been sent by Koch industries from 2005-2012.
...
Victoria University First In New Zealand To Divest (NZ)
On November 2, 2014, 350 Aotearoa congratulated Victoria
University on its decision to become the first university in
New Zealand to divest from fossil fuels. According to their
Vice Chancellor Grant Guilford, "The research strongly
suggests that unless the world reduces its reliance on
fossil fuels, climate change and ocean acidification will
have severe impacts on life on land and in our oceans. Other
factors taken into account were the business continuity
risks from sea level rises to Victoria's low lying Pipitea
Campus, and the investment risks of 'stranded assets' in the
fossil fuels sector. It is important� that the University
aligns its investment decisions with the results of its
scientific research and its public stance on climate change
while it continues to work on actively reducing its own
carbon footprint."
...
Glasgow University First In Europe To Divest (SCT)
This past October, Glasgow University became the first
university in Europe to divest. The decision followed a 12
month- long student-led campaign involving over 1,300
students and resulting in the withdrawal of over 18m pounds
of funds from fossil fuels. The Secretary of the University
of Glasgow explains the decision, "The University
recognises the devastating impact that climate change may
have on our planet, and the need for the world to reduce its
dependence on fossil fuels. Over the coming years we will
steadily reduce our investment in the fossil fuel extraction
industry, while also taking steps to reduce our carbon
consumption."
...
Vermont Seeks To Pass First In The Nation Legislation For
Divestment
In Montpelier, Vermont, Climate change activists are working
with their state legislature to divest their state from
fossil fuels. This is marked as a major breakthrough in
particular because lawmaker Sen. Anthony Pollina has become
the first in the United States to introduce legislation to
pass this kind of law. For more on the story, go to
http://tinyurl.com/l9k99yl
Measuring the Global Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement
Arabella Advisors
[Excerpts: full report with graphs and lists of institutions
and individuals divesting available at links below]
http://www.arabellaadvisors.com/ direct URL:
http://tinyurl.com/ol5omga
The global movement to divest from fossil fuels has
mobilized billions of dollars in capital and engaged a
broad segment of society to accelerate the just transition
to a clean-energy economy. As of September
19, 2014, 181 institutions and local governments and 656
individuals representing over $50 billion in
assets have pledged to divest from fossil fuels. These
institutions and individuals come from a diverse range of
sectors and backgrounds, including universities, faithbased
organizations, philanthropies, health-care providers,
local governments, and NGOs.
The movement to divest from fossil fuels and invest in clean
alternatives has gained remarkable speed.
It was born in 2011 on just half a dozen college campuses
where the students called on their administrations to divest
endowments from coal and other fossil fuels. Today, a
diverse group of students, philanthropies, and grassroots
and environmental organizations from around the globe are
driving the movement.
Since January 2014, the number of commitments by campuses,
churches, cities, states, hospitals, pension funds, and
other institutions—both in the United States and
abroad—have more than doubled, from 74 to 181. Since
seventeen foundations controlling nearly $1.8 billion
committed to divest in January, the number of divesting
philanthropic organizations has swelled to 71,
representing $4.2 billion in assets. In addition, eleven
leading environmental organizations have also pledged to
divest (see appendix for a full list), totaling over $725
million in assets. The movement has also grown to include a
diverse group of individuals. The inaugural cohort of
individual pledges boasts over $2.5 billion in assets.
The following report provides additional detail about the
scope and scale of fossil fuel divestment commitments made
to date. This report was prepared by Arabella Advisors,
working with a team of leaders from the global fossil fuel
divestment movement, to provide additional detail about the
scope and scale of divestment commitments made. Arabella
compiled the data, conducted the technical analysis, and
drafted the body of the report; judgments about standards
relating to recognition or inclusion in the report of public
divestment commitments were made by a committee of movement
leaders including: Divest-Invest Philanthropy, Divest-Invest
Individual, 350.org, the Wallace Global Fund, and the
California Student Sustainability Coalition.
Below, we include a description of the methodology the
working group used to gather data and report
on divestment commitments. We also highlight ongoing efforts
to gather more data about the nature of commitments made.
Total Assets Divested
The common definition of a Divest-Invest commitment is a
pledge to divest from the top fossil fuel companies within
five years and to move those assets into clean energy
investments. As the movement has spread, participants have
tailored the timing and sequence of commitments to their
particular circumstances. The working group has recognized
the variety of these circumstances and has designed this
process to allow institutions to meet both their fiduciary
and moral responsibilities.
To assess the scale of divestment commitments made globally,
the working group measured the assets under management by
organizations that committed to divestment. It has gathered
data on asset sizes from a number of sources. For
foundations, universities, faith-based organizations, and
other public charities, it has compiled data from their most recent
public financial report or Tax Form 990. Note that
in most instances, the most recently available Form 990 was
from 2012. As such, the asset sizes it used do not account
for potential growth over the last two years. Where
information on total assets was not publicly available, the
working group counted an organization's total revenue from
its most recent publicly-available financial records or
annual report.
For government commitments, it based the asset size on the
size of the city or county's pension fund, unless it
specifically indicated it had divested other assets (e.g.,
cash reserves). Where this information was not publicly
available, it based total asset size on the entity's most
recent annual budget (operating plus capital budget).
Individual Commitments
The working group relied upon self-reported data from
individual commitments to determine the number and scope of
divest-invest pledges. Individuals agreed to a standard
pledge, and most completed a brief survey. The standard
pledge (available at http://divestinvest.org/individual)
states:
- I will make no new investments in the top 200 oil, gas,
and coal companies [as defined by the Carbon Tracker 200].
- I will sell my existing assets tied to these oil, gas,
and coal investments within three to five years.
- I will invest in the new energy economy.
The pledge does allow individuals to retain shares in fossil
fuel companies for the purpose of shareholder advocacy.
Given that information about individual assets is private,
we have relied on self-reported data gathered by DivestInvest
through a survey it administers when individuals sign
the pledge. To respect the privacy of individuals taking
the pledge, all responses remain anonymous and responses
about their personal wealth were reported using the
following ranges:
- $100,000 or less
- Between $100,000 and $500,000
- Between $500,000 and $1 million
- Between $1 and $5 million
- Between $5 and $10 million
- Over $10 million (individuals reporting personal assets
over $10 million have the option of listing their specific
asset size.)
To calculate individual commitments, we have totaled the
median of each asset value range. For example, if six
individuals reported assets between $5 million and $10
million, the total is six times $7.5 million. Those
reporting asset sizes over $10 million we asked to disclose
their specific asset total.
Constituencies Represented
Arabella tracked publicly-available data on the constituency
represented by each institution in order to capture the
number of individuals encompassed in institutional
commitments. Currently, the 181 institutions and
governments that have pledged to divest represent more than
520 million individuals.
Our metrics for constituency include:
- Educational institution: Number of students and employees
(where available)
- Government: City or county population
- Faith-based Organizations: Number of congregants/members
- Healthcare Institutions: Number of employees
- NGO: Number of members
Investment Commitments
To measure commitments to invest in clean energy solutions
(defined as renewable energy, energy
efficiency, and clean tech), Arabella tracked the number of
institutions and individuals that have made a
principled commitment to invest in the next five years. So
far, 715 individuals and institutions have pledged to invest
in clean energy solutions, or 85 percent of all pledgers. It
will take some time for institutions and individuals to
develop an investment strategy that meets their financial
goals while capturing the opportunity of clean energy. As
such, we have limited information about the nature and
amount of investments in clean energy at this time.
Clarifying the nature of these investments will be a
priority area for data collection and reporting going
forward. Arabella has developed a baseline survey
to capture this investment data and recommends administering
it annually to all pledgers. We are currently using this
survey to gather data about foundation investments.
Appendix A: Institutional Commitments
Governments
- Amherst, MA
- Ann Arbor, MI
- Bayfield, WI
- Berkeley, CA
- Boulder, CO
- Boxtel, Netherlands
- Brisbane, CA
- Cambridge, MA
- Concord, MA
- Dane County, WI
- Dunedin, New Zealand
- Eugene, OR
- Framingham, MA
- Ithaca, NY
- Madison, WI
- New London, CT
- Northampton, MA
- Oakland, California
- Orebro, Sweden
- Portland, OR
- Providence, RI
- Provincetown, MA
- Richmond, CA
- San Francisco, CA
- Santa Clara Valley Water District
- Santa Fe, NM
- Santa Monica, CA
- Seattle, WA
- State College, PA
- Sudbury, MA
- Truro, MA
Philanthropic Institutions
[see original report for list]
Educational Institutions
- College of the Atlantic
- Foothill-De Anza Community College
Foundation
- Green Mountain College
- Hampshire College
- Naropa University
- Peralta Community College District
- Pitzer College
- Prescott College
- San Francisco State University Foundation
- Stanford University
- Sterling College
- Students' Society of McGill University
- Unity College
- University of Dayton
Religious Institutions
[see original report for list]
Non-governmental Organizations
[see original report for list]
Appendix B: Individual Commitments
[see original report for list]
Divest!
Move Your Money out of Fossil Fuels
http://moveyourmoney.org.uk/
[Excerpts from introduction. Go to web site for full report
and actions for people holding accounts with banks in UK.]
Introduction: The problem and solution
Maybe you don't have any active investments or wouldn't call
yourself an investor. But here's something you may not
know: you are an investor, and your money is doing
something right now. Even the money you have sitting in
your bank at this very moment is being moved around and is
making an impact on the world's financial and economic
landscape.
Banks make decisions about what to invest your money in
without consulting you, and perhaps most worryingly, they
may not even want to tell you what they're doing with it.
High street banks have for a long time been investing
unfathomably large sums of money into the planet's most
precarious commodities: oil, coal and gas. For decades
fossil fuel investments have underpinned pensions, ISAs
and many other major investments. This is because demand
for fossil fuels is high across the globe, exponentially
rising, and traditionally provides good financial returns.
So what's the problem?
Oil, coal and gas investments are dangerous. Global reliance
on fossil fuels has led to rapid climate change, with the UN
declaring it as an urgent priority for governments to
tackle. Scientists have estimated that if we are to avoid
the catastrophic consequences of exceeding global warming
levels of 2 degrees Celsius, we must drastically decrease
the amount of fossil fuels we use.
But this isn't just an environmental issue, its also a
financial one. Banks have invested heavily in an asset that
will, at some point in the near future, lose a lot if not
all of its value. Recent research shows that to avoid the
catastrophic social and environmental impacts of
irreversible climate change, around two thirds of all
fossil fuel reserves are effectively 'unburnable', and must
stay in the ground.
This is what's called the 'carbon bubble', and when it
bursts it will be disastrous for those invested in
fossil fuels.
And this is set to happen sooner than you might think. In
the UK alone, HSBC Holdings, Barclays, Santander, The Royal
Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group have in excess of
66 billion UK pounds invested in oil, gas and coal
extraction. That's a lot of capital exposed to the risk of
the carbon bubble, and if your money is in those banks,
it's your money that's supporting this industry. Yet
despite banks' massive investment, the British public are
turning their back on fossil fuels.
The latest Great British Money survey conducted earlier this
year found that 39% of adults in the UK would be unhappy if
they found out their money was being used to fund fossil
fuel developments, and over 1 in 3 of those surveyed (36%)
said that they would like their bank to stop investing in
fossil fuels.
Now, with Move Your Money, you have the chance to take back
control of your savings and choose how they shape the world
around us. We're launching a campaign to encourage everyone
with any money in their bank account - however much or
little - to join our call to action to offer their banks
a simple ultimatum: to disclose their investments in fossil
fuels and vow to take your money out of
fossil fuels, or you'll take your money out of their
accounts.
Climate change and the carbon bubble are urgent issues that
need to be addressed. But the great news is that the number
of people divesting and taking their money out of
institutions that finance climate change is snowballing.
Early adopters and pioneers of the divestment movement have
worked hard to gain traction, and it is increasingly being
recognised as an urgent financial, environmental and
economic issue. One of the founders of the divestment
movement is 350.org, a global campaign group founded by
Bill McKibben, campaigns in nearly every country in the
world to divest public institutions everywhere from fossil
fuels.
This is the important part �ndash; you can choose where your money
is invested. What many people don't know is that divestment
is not just something that can be done by multi-million
pound funds, trusts, foundations and venture capitalists.
You can help change the world through the power of
investing, no matter what the size of your
piggy bank.
Impact of your action and the Case for Divestment
So what does it mean to divest and what will you achieve by
doing it? The divestment movement has been garnering
unprecedented media attention in recent months. This is
partly due to ever more radical public protests and
demonstrations, that have been raising awareness of the
dangers of the carbon bubble and the importance of taking
action to divest now.
The global energy mix is at a crucial crossroads. In 2012
over 66 billion UK pounds was invested by UK banks
into fossil fuel extraction alone. Despite these gargantuan
financial institutions being aware that they are
bankrolling the destruction of our planet, they have shown
little desire to make their investments more ethical and
sustainable. The action taken by banks and investors today
will influence the next generation's energy resources, and
worryingly, rather than blanket-investing in clean,
renewable and infinite energy resources like solar, wind
and hydro, UK banks are looking to finance another shortsighted
fossil fuel boom by pouring investments into
dangerous fracking.
...
The message is clear: in order to make banks re-direct their
financial resources away from the fossil fuel industry, the
public demand for cleaner investments needs to be heard.
That is what the divestment movement is all about.
We're now reaching a tipping point in divestment which could
see a domino effect of investors and institutions vowing to
make their money a force for good. ... [document continues
with examples, particularly from UK]
It may seem like a drop in the ocean, but the power of
collective personal action cannot be underestimated. Making
your voice heard can and does change the flow of public and
private finances. It can create a path for a clean energy
future and one that makes financial sense too. If we all
act together.
...
AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic
publication providing reposted commentary and analysis on
African issues, with a particular focus on U.S. and
international policies. AfricaFocus Bulletin is edited by
William Minter.
AfricaFocus Bulletin can be reached at [email protected].
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