SMRs and AMRs

Wednesday, February 05, 2014

Fighting climate change through divestment

Foundations Band Together to Get Rid of Fossil-Fuel Investments

By DIANE CARDWELL, NYT

Seventeen foundations controlling nearly $1.8 billion in investments have united to commit to pulling their money out of companies that do business in fossil fuels, the group announced on Thursday.

The move is a victory for a developing divestiture campaign that has found success largely among small colleges and environmentally conscious cities, but has not yet won over the wealthiest institutions like Harvard, Brown and Swarthmore.

But the participation of the foundations, including the Russell Family Foundation, the Educational Foundation of America and the John Merck Fund, is the largest commitment to the effort, and stems in part from a push among philanthropies to bring their investing in line with their missions.

“At a minimum, our grants should not be undercut by our investments,” said Ellen Dorsey, executive director of the Wallace Global Fund, which is practically divested of fossil fuels already and is coordinating the effort among foundations. “If you owned fossil fuels in your investment portfolio, it became increasingly clear to foundations that they own climate change, and they’re potentially profiting from those investments,” at the same time as they make grants to fight the issue.

She said she expected several larger foundations to commit to the effort, which includes moving investments to renewable energy or other sustainability ventures, in the coming months.

(Continued here.)

1 Comments:

Blogger Patrick Dempsey said...

why don't we pass a law making the Earth upright on its axis rather than the current 23.5 degree tilt? That will enforce consistent sunlight on every point on the earth throughout the year thereby reversing climate change and resulting in constant temperatures at every azimuthal angle on the planet all year long?

It's just so simple, I don't know why the 'changers' haven't thought of this.

7:08 PM  

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