On the eve of the Climate Summit, the $860m Rockefeller Brothers Fund announced plans to begin divesting from fossil fuels. Starting with coal and tar sands investments, the fund plans to reduce such investments to almost zero by the end of this year. This will be followed up by further fossil fuel divestment over the next few years. The fund is a signatory to the The Global Divest-Invest coalition is calling for divestment from fossil fuels.
Steven Rockefeller, a son of Nelson A. Rockefeller and a fund trustee, said he saw economic problems for companies that plan to use fossil fuel reserves that are theoretically ‘unburnable’ if climate change is to be kept in check. “We see this as having both a moral and economic dimension,” he said.
Stephen Heintz, an heir of Standard Oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, and the fund’s president, said the move to divest away from fossil fuels would be in line with his wishes.
“We are quite convinced that if he were alive today, as an astute businessman looking out to the future, he would be moving out of fossil fuels and investing in clean, renewable energy,” Heintz said in a statement.
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