What You Need to Know: Divesting From Fossil Fuels

This week Bill speaks with two leaders of the climate change divestment campaign who are urging institutions to break ties with the fossil fuel industry. The campaign encourages people to sell their shares in polluting industries and reinvest in companies committed to climate change solutions. For those interested in learning more, here are some of the organizations that offer resources and information on divesting.

Divest-Invest, a coalition of US and global foundations that have pledged to divest from fossil fuel companies and invest a portion of their assets in the clean energy economy, has a series of resources to learn more about divesting. This includes:

• A report on the top 200 fossil fuel companies that they suggest to divest from. To view the list only, visit the Go Fossil Free website.
• Information for individual investors: Extracting Fossil Fuels from Your Portfolio, a guide to divestment and reinvestment produced by 350.org, Green Century Funds and Trillium Asset Management.
• Guides for fiduciaries responsible for city and state pensions: Resilient Portfolios & Fossil-Free Pensions produced by HIP Investor.

We Are Powershift, a grassroots-driven online community for the youth climate movement, has a number of action-oriented resources for students looking to start divestment campaigns. This includes a primer on how college endowments work.

The Responsible Endowments Coalition, has resources for students and alumni to start divestment campaigns on college and universities.

The Go Fossil Free Campaign has a map of petitions at colleges and universities that you can click through to learn more and sign online.

GreenFaith has resources for those seeking resolutions on divestment and reinvestment in religious organizations, including a list of religious divestment efforts.