Tuesday, July 5, 2022
The Green Market Oracle
  • Climate Change
    • Greenhouse Gas Emissions
    • Biodiversity
    • Wildfires
    • Extreme Weather
  • Energy
    • Fossil Fuels
    • Renewables
  • Politics
    • American Politics
    • Canadian Politics
    • International Politics
  • Social Change
    • Activism
    • Disinformation
    • Education
    • Psychology
    • Gender Equality
  • Business and Economics
    • Leadership
    • Decarbonization
    • Economics
    • Supply Chains
    • Investing
  • Technology
    • Carbon Removal
    • Carbon Capture
    • Transportation
    • Buildings
    • Food
No Result
View All Result
  • Climate Change
    • Greenhouse Gas Emissions
    • Biodiversity
    • Wildfires
    • Extreme Weather
  • Energy
    • Fossil Fuels
    • Renewables
  • Politics
    • American Politics
    • Canadian Politics
    • International Politics
  • Social Change
    • Activism
    • Disinformation
    • Education
    • Psychology
    • Gender Equality
  • Business and Economics
    • Leadership
    • Decarbonization
    • Economics
    • Supply Chains
    • Investing
  • Technology
    • Carbon Removal
    • Carbon Capture
    • Transportation
    • Buildings
    • Food
No Result
View All Result
The Green Market Oracle
No Result
View All Result
Home Other

Students are Powering the Unstoppable Fossil Divestment Movement

by Richard Matthews
September 26, 2015
in Other
0

The fossil fuel divestment movement was born on college and university campuses. Driven by social justice concerns student activism spawned a multi-trillion dollar sledge hammer. This rapidly burgeoning movement has grown to be a force to be reckoned with. In 2014 there was a doubling in the number of institutions that pledged to divest their fossil fuel holdings. In the last year this number exploded.

As explored in the 2015 Divest Invest report, there been a 50-fold increase in fossil fuel divestment over the course of the last year. To date, 430 institutions and 2,040 individuals across 43 countries together representing $2.6 trillion in assets have committed to divest from fossil fuel companies. There are also thousands of ongoing divestment campaigns but nowhere is the energy of the movement felt more passionately than on University campuses.

In the last year 40 educational institutions have divested representing $130 billion in divestment. This includes Stanford, Glasgow and Australian National Universities. There are ten Canadian universities where students have voted to divest this includes Concordia University which was the first campus in Canada to divest.

Students have been pushing the divestment movement for years now and they show no sign of slowing down. In the Spring of this year Syracuse University announced that it was divesting university divests from fossil fuels. Chalmers became the first Swedish university has announced it is divesting from coal, oil and gas! Chalmers University of Technology has long been a university showing leadership on sustainability – and now they’re selling assets in fossil fuels worth almost 5 million SEK.

After a two year campaign students at the University of Maine managed to convince the Board of Trustees to unanimously approve a measure to divest all direct holdings from coal companies.

Although the divestment movement may have started on university campuses it is now embraced by the World Bank, the director-general of the World Health Organisation (WHO), and the governor of the Bank of England.

A host of major pension funds have divested from fossil fuels. This includes $476 billion from the California General Assembly pension fund, the British Medical Association, Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global, AP4, the giant Swedish pension fund. Australia’s Capital Territory and the Australian city of Newcastle, home of coal, are also among those divesting from fossil fuels.

In late August, the Canadian Medical Association voted to divest it’s holdings in fossil fuels. The vote came at the end of a summer that saw both the British Columbia Government Employees Union and the United Church of Canada pass similar resolutions.

Investment Groups like the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Axa said it will divest €500 million ($547 million) from companies most exposed to coal-related activities and triple its green investments to reach €3 billion ($3.28 billion) by 2020. The Guardian Media Group announced it would divest its £800m fund from coal, oil and gas,

A total of 140 philanthropic organizations in the philanthropic sector have pledged divest $10 billion from fossil fuels and dozens of faith groups are getting onboard.

The fossil fuel divestment movement is growing with investors, institutions and ordinary people. The divestment movement was born at colleges and universities. Massive investments of time and energy were invested by student at schools of every size, from big ivy league schools like Yale or Harvard, or small liberal arts colleges like Carleton or the New School.

Generations to come will remember that this is where students concerned about social justice spawned the divestment movement. Most importantly these schools will be remembered as the places from which a movement began that ultimately helped to stave off a climate catastrophe.

_________________________________________

Make sure to see the article titled, “Comprehensive Green School Information and Resources.” It contains links to over 300 articles covering everything you need to know about sustainable academics, student eco-initiatives, green school buildings, and college rankings as well as a wide range of related information and resources.

ShareTweetShare
Previous Post

Sustainable Development Goals: Increasing the Emphasis on Water

Next Post

Pope Francis and the Convergence of Morality and Science: Relinquish Fossil Fuels and Embrace Renewables (Video)

Related Posts

Seasons Greetings from the Green Market Oracle

by Richard Matthews
December 24, 2021
0

American Courts are Defending Democracy and the Environment

by Richard Matthews
December 14, 2020
0

Despite unprecedented challenges, America's legal system has held. In recent weeks the courts have repeatedly defended democracy and in the last four years they have overturned a wide range of environmental...

Environmental Plebiscites: Municipal Referendums and State Ballot Initiatives

by Richard Matthews
November 12, 2020
0

The November 3rd election not only elected an environmentally responsible president it also gave Americans a chance to vote on environmental issues in five state ballots and two city referendums. Americans ...

Next Post

Pope Francis and the Convergence of Morality and Science: Relinquish Fossil Fuels and Embrace Renewables (Video)

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • SoundCloud

Subscribe to the Blog

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Energy

Nuclear Energy Versus Fossil Fuels

by Richard Matthews
July 5, 2022
0

Nuclear power is garnering an increasing amount of attention as a climate-friendly energy alternative to fossil fuels which are greenhouse...

Read more
different types of economic systems assessed by sustainable development goals

Types of Economies and their Implications for Sustainability

June 28, 2022
The facts about Nuclear Energy reveal that it is safe and clean but it is not renewable

Fact Check Reveals Nuclear Energy is Safe and Clean but not Renewable

June 13, 2022

Environmental Implications of Three Types of Economies: Brown, Blue and Green

June 3, 2022

Types of Nuclear Energy: Where We Were and Where We are Today

May 31, 2022
  • About
  • Climate Change
  • Energy
  • Business and Economics
  • Politics
  • Technology
  • Social Change
  • Events
  • Other

© 2021 Copyright The Green Market Oracle.

No Result
View All Result
  • Business and Economics
    • Leadership
    • Supply Chains
  • Economics
  • Energy
    • Fossil Fuels
    • Renewables
  • Climate Change
    • Greenhouse Gas Emissions
    • Biodiversity
    • Extreme Weather
    • Wildfires
  • Investing
  • Politics
    • American Politics
    • Canadian Politics
    • International Politics
  • Technology
    • Buildings
    • Carbon Capture
    • Food
    • Transportation
  • Social Change
    • Education
    • Activism
    • Psychology

© 2021 Copyright The Green Market Oracle.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In