User:John Cummings/Archive/Fossil fuel divestment

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Fossil fuel divestment is the removal of investment assets including stocks, bonds, and investment funds from companies involved in extracting fossil fuels. Divestment is often in response to and in an attempt to reduce climate change and the economics of investing the companies. There are a number of groups working to advocate for fossil fuel divestment. Fossil fuel divestment is currently the fastest growing divestment movement in history including those against apartheid and tobacco, as of September 2014, 837 institutions and individuals had committed to divest over $50 billion.

Reducing carbon emissions
Fossil fuel divestment aims to reduce carbon emissions by accelerating the adoption of renewable energy by stigmatising fossil fuel companies. This includes putting public pressure on companies that are currently involved in fossil fuel extraction to invest in renewable energy.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that to all future carbon dioxide emissions must be less than 1,000 gigatonnes to provide a 66% chance that dangerous climate change could be avoided, this figure includes all sources of carbon emissions. To avoid dangerous climate change only 33% of known extractable fossil fuel of known reserves can be used, this carbon budget can also be depleted by an increase in other carbon emitters e.g deforestation and cement production. If other carbon emissions increase significantly then only 10% of the fossil fuel reserves can be used to stay within projected safe limits.

"“I think this is part of a process of delegitimising this sector and saying these are odious profits, this is not a legitimate business model... “This is the beginning of the kind of model that we need, and the first step is saying these profits are not acceptable and once we collectively say that and believe that and express that in our universities, in our faith institutions, at city council level, then we’re one step away from where we need to be, which is polluter pays.”"

- Naomi Klein

Stranded assets


Stranded assets which are known in relation to fossil fuel companies as the carbon bubble occur when the reserves of fossil fuel companies are deemed environmentally unsustainable and so unusable and so must be written off. Currently the price of fossil fuels companies shares is calculated under the assumption that all of the company's fossil fuel reserves will be consumed and so the true costs of carbon dioxide in intensifying global warming is not taken into account in a company's stock market valuation.

Known extractable fossil fuel reserves that cannot be burned in order to prevent dangerous climate change  In 2013 a study by HSBC found that between 40% and 60% of the market value of BP, Royal Dutch Shell and other European fossil fuel companies could be wiped out because of stranded assets caused by carbon emission regulation. The Bank of England governor Mark Carney has stated: ""The vast majority of reserves are unburnable” if global temperature rises are to be limited to below 2°C""

- Mark Carney speaking at the 2015 World Bank seminar

In June 214, the International Energy Agency released an independent analysis on the effect of carbon emissions controls find that if cuts in carbon emissions are adopted so that the global mean surface temperature increases by no more than 2 °C that $300 billion would in stranded fossil-fuel investments by 2035.

A report by the Carbon Tracker Initiative found that between 2010 and 2015 the US coal sector had lost 76% of it's value including the closure of 200 mines. It found that Peabody Energy the world's largest private coal mining company had lost 80% of it's share price over this time, this was attributed to Environmental Protection Agency regulations and competition from shale gas.

In 2013, fossil fuel companies invested $670bn on exploration of new oil and gas resources.

Competition from renewable energy sources
Competition from renewable energy sources may lead to the loss of value of fossil fuel companies due to their inability to compete commercially with the renewable energy sources, in some cases this has already happened. Deutsche Bank predicts that 80% of the global electricity market will have reached grid parity for solar electricity generation by the end of 2017,, in 2012 67% of the world's electricity generation was produced from fossil fuels.

An estimate made by Kepler Chevreux puts the loss in value of the fossil fuel companies due to the impact of the growing renewables industry at $28 trillion over the next two decades.

Stanwell Corporation, an electricity generator owned by the Government of Queensland made a loss in 2013 from it's 4,000MW of coal and gas fired generation capacity. The company attributed this loss to the expansion of rooftop solar generation which reducing the price of electricity during the day, on some days the price per KWh (usually $40 - $50 Australian dollars) was almost zero. The Australian Government and Bloomberg New Energy Finance forecast the production of energy by rooftop solar to rise sixfold between 2014 and 2024.

Unstable fossil fuel prices
Unstable fossil fuel prices has made investment in fossil fuel extraction a more risky investment opportunity. West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell in value from $107 per barrel in June 2014 to $50 per barrel in January 2015. Goldman Sachs stated in January 2015 that if oil were to stabilize at $70 per barrel that $1 trillion in planned oil-field investments would not be profitable.

Apartheid
Desmond Tutu has voiced support for fossil fuel divestment and compared it to divestment from South Africa in protest of apartheid.

""We must stop climate change. And we can, if we use the tactics that worked in South Africa against the worst carbon emitters". "Throughout my life I have believed that the only just response to injustice is what Mahatma Gandhi termed "passive resistance". During the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa, using boycotts, divestment and sanctions, and supported by our friends overseas, we were not only able to apply economic pressure on the unjust state, but also serious moral pressure.""

- Desmond Tutu

Share prices of fossil fuel companies
A study by the Smith School of Enterprise and Environment at University of Oxford found that the stigmatisation of fossil fuel companies caused by divestment can "materially increase the uncertainty surrounding the future cash flows of fossil-fuel companies." That, in turn, "can lead to a permanent compression in the trading multiples – e.g., the share price to earnings (P/E) ratio of a target company."

"“The outcome of the stigmatisation process poses the most far-reaching threat to fossil fuel companies. Any direct impacts pale in comparison.”"

- Stranded assets and the fossil fuel divestment campaign: what does divestment mean for the valuation of fossil fuel assets? Smith School of Enterprise and Environment

Economic risks of divestment from fossil fuels
In 2013 the Aperio Group calculated using a multi-factor model that there is a 0.0002% theoretical return penalty in divesting from fossil fuel companies in the Russell 3000 Index stating:

""the portfolio does become riskier, but by such a trivial amount that the impact is statistically irrelevant""

- Patrick Geddes, Chief Investment Officer, Aperio Group

Harvard University
In November 2014 seven undergraduates and graduate students at the law school and the school of engineering and applied sciences filed a lawsuit at the Suffolk County Superior Court against the president and fellows of Harvard College and others for "mismanagement of charitable funds" and “intentional investment in abnormally dangerous activities” in relation to Harvard's investments in fossil fuel companies.

Reaction from fossil fuel companies
In October 2014 Exxon Mobil commented on the fossil fuel divestment movement that it was "a movement that is out of step with reality" adding "to not use fossil fuels is tantamount to not using energy at all, and that's not feasible".

350.org
350.org is an international environmental organization encouraging citizens to action with the belief that publicizing the increasing levels of carbon dioxide will pressure world leaders to address climate change and to reduce levels from more than 385 parts per million to 350 parts per million. 350.org launched their Go Fossil Free: Divest from Fossil Fuels! campaign in 2012 with Bill McKibben's "Do The Math" speaking tour around the country. The campaign calls for colleges and universities, as well as cities, religious institutions, and pension funds to withdraw their investments from fossil fuel companies.

The Guardian
The Guardian is a British national daily newspaper founded in 1821, in March 2015 it launched the 'Keep it in the Ground' campaign encouraging the Wellcome Trust and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to divest from fossil fuels. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has a minimum of $1.4bn invested in fossil fuel companies. The Wellcome Turst has £450m of investments in Shell, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and BP. The petition had received over 140,00 signatures the end of March 2015.

Support for the fossil fuel divestment movement
A number of individuals and organisations have voiced support for fossil fuel divestment including:
 * Tilda Swinton
 * Yotam Ottolenghi
 * Bianca Jagger
 * Ed Davey

In March 2015 Mary Robinson Ban Ki-moon’s special envoy on climate change and former Irish Prime Minister stating "it is almost a due diligence requirement to consider ending investment in dirty energy companies"

Harvard University
In February 2015 Alumni of Harvard University including Natalie Portman, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, Darren Aronofsky and Susan Faludi wrote an open letter to Harvard University demanding that it divest it's $35.9 billion endowment from coal, gas, and oil companies.

"“Those students have done a remarkable job in garnering overwhelming student support for divestment, and the faculty too have delivered a strong message. But so far [Harvard] has not just refused to divest, they’ve doubled down by announcing the decision to buy stock in some of the dirtiest energy companies on the planet.”"

- Open letter to Harvard university from notable alumni, 2014

Glasgow University
Glasgow University became the first University in Europe to agree to divest from fossil fuels, Edward Snowden who is rector for the university commented: "“I am proud to offer my support and endorsement for Climate Action Society’s fossil fuels divestment campaign. By confronting the threat of unsustainable energy use and exploration to our planetary habitat, the students of Glasgow University do a public service for all families of today and tomorrow.”"

- Edward Snowden

Organisations divested from
Fossil fuel divestment targets a number of fossil fuel extractors, divestment campaigns often use the Fossil Free Indexes list of the the top 100 public coal companies globally and the top 100 public oil and gas companies globally, ranked by the potential carbon emissions content of their reported reserves.

Coal
• # Coal India

• # China Shenhua

• # Adani

• # Shanxi Coking

• # Anglo American

• # BHP Billiton

• # Yitai Coal

• # Datang Intl

• # China Coal

• # Peabody Energy

• # Glencore Xstrata

• # Datong Coal

• # Yanzhou Coal

• # DEH

• # Exxaro

• # Yangquan Coal

• # Mechel

• # Arch Coal

• # Alpha Natural Resources

• # EVRAZ

• # Mitsubishi

• # Vale

• # Raspadskaya

• # Rio Tinto

• # Asia Resource

• # Rusal

• # Neyveli Lignite

• # Pingdingshan

• # Cloud Peak

• # Sasol

• # Tata Steel

• # AGL

• # Teck

• # Severstal

• # Coalspur

• # Kuzbass Fuel

• # Polyus Gold

• # Energy Ventures

• # Whitehaven Coal

• # Banpu

• # Bayan

• # RWE

• # Consol Energy

• # WHSP

• # Westmoreland

• # Resource Generation

• # Churchill Mining

• # NTPC

• # Adaro

• # Nacco

• # Idemitsu Kosan

• # ARLP

• # Huolinhe Opencut

• # Golden Energy

• # Mitsui & Co

• # CoAL

• # NLMK

• # Tata Power

• # MMK OJSC

• # Wesfarmers

• # Kazakhmys

• # New World Resources

• # MMC

• # Itochu

• # Cockatoo

• # Shanxi Meijin Energy

• # Jizhong Energy

• # Bandanna

• # Polo Resources

• # Allete

• # CLP Holdings

• # Aspire

• # Marubeni

• # China Resources

• # Walter Energy

• # Coal Energy

• # Indika

• # Arcelor Mittal

• # FirstEnergy

• # Black Hills

• # Wescoal

• # Grupo Mexico

• # ARM

• # Shanxi Coal

• # Capital Power

• # PTT

• # Shanxi Lanhua Sci-Tech

• # Fortune

• # Cardero

• # Zhengzhou Coal

• # SAIL

• # JSPL

• # Shougang Fushan

• # Jingyuan

• # Stanmore

• # Prophecy Coal

• # Cliffs Natural Resources

• # James River

• # CESC

• # Alcoa

Oil and Gas
• # Gazprom

• # Rosneft

• # PetroChina

• # ExxonMobil

• # Lukoil

• # BP

• # Petrobras

• # Royal Dutch Shell

• # Chevron

• # Novatek

• # Total

• # ConocoPhillips

• # Tatneft

• # ONGC

• # ENI

• # Statoil

• # Sinopec

• # CNOOC

• # Occidental

• # BG Group

• # Canadian Natural Resources

• # Anadarko Petroleum

• # Apache

• # Chesapeake Energy

• # Inpex

• # Bashneft

• # Devon Energy

• # BHP Billiton

• # Repsol

• # Ecopetrol

• # EOG Resources

• # Suncor Energy

• # Marathon Oil

• # Hess

• # Imperial Oil

• # Encana

• # Noble Energy

• # BASF

• # EQT

• # Range Resources

• # Continental Resources

• # OMV

• # Antero Resources

• # KazMunaiGas EP

• # YPF

• # Southwestern Energy

• # Cenovus Energy

• # Linn Energy

• # Woodside Petroleum

• # Husky Energy

• # PTT

• # Consol Energy

• # Pioneer Natural Resources

• # Cabot Oil & Gas

• # WPX Energy

• # SK Innovation

• # Whiting Petroleum

• # Murphy Oil

• # QEP Resources

• # Newfield Exploration

• # Dragon Oil

• # Sasol

• # Ultra Petroleum

• # Santos

• # Concho Resources

• # Denbury Resources

• # Freeport-McMoRan

• # Maersk Group

• # MEG Energy

• # SandRidge Energy

• # Crescent Point Energy

• # GDF SUEZ

• # Pacific Rubiales Energy

• # SM Energy

• # JX Holdings

• # Cimarex Energy

• # Mitsui & Co

• # Penn West Petroleum

• # Polish Oil & Gas

• # MOL

• # Energen

• # TAQA

• # Oil Search

• # Oil India

• # ARC Resources

• # Genel Energy

• # Canadian Oil Sands

• # Energy XXI

• # PDC Energy

• # Oasis Petroleum

• # Tourmaline Oil

• # Rosetta Resources

• # RWE

• # National Fuel Gas

• # Peyto E&D

• # Xcite Energy

• # Tullow Oil

• # Energi Mega Persada

• # Breitburn Energy Partners

• # Enerplus

Cities
• Seattle, WA

• San Francisco, CA

• Portland, OR

• Eugene, OR

• Berkeley, CA

• Richmond, CA

• Santa Monica, CA

• Boulder, CO

• Santa Fe, NM

• Madison, WI

• Bayfield, WI

• State College, PA

• Ithaca, NY

• Truro, MA

• Provincetown, MA

• Providence, RI

• Cambridge, MA

• Northampton, MA

• Ann Arbor, MI

• Boxtel, the Netherlands

• New London, CT

• Amherst, MA

• Sudbury, MA

• Concord, MA

• Framingham, MA

• Dunedin, New Zealand

• Oakland, California

• Örebro, Sweden

• Oxford, United Kingdom

• Eugene, OR

• City of Brisbane, CA

• City of Moreland, Melbourne, Australia

• City of Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia

• Ashland, OR

• Marrickville, Sydney, Australia

• Belfast, Maine

• Shire of Goomalling, Western Australia

• Palo Alto, CA

• Leichhardt, Sydney, Australia


 * Government Pension Fund of Norway
 * London Pensions Fund Authority

Counties

 * San Francisco, CA
 * Dane County, WI

Education organisations


In May 2014 Stanford University announced it would not make direct investments in coal mining companies. The decision was taken after receiving a petition from student organisation Fossil Free Stanford. "Stanford has a responsibility as a global citizen to promote sustainability for our planet, and we work intensively to do so through our research, our educational programs and our campus operations"

- John L. Hennessy, Stanford University President

Glasgow University became the first university in the United Kingdom to divest from fossil fuels, it has frozen all new acquisitions of fossil fuel based investments and plans to sell off it's current investments by 2024, around 4% of it's total endowment.

• College of the Atlantic, ME, USA

• Foothill-De Anza Community College Foundation, CA, USA

• University of Glasgow, United Kingdom

• University of Bedfordshire, United Kingdom

• Green Mountain College, VT, USA

• Hampshire College, MA, USA

• Naropa University, CO, USA

• Peralta Community College District, CA, USA

• Pitzer College, CA, USA

• Prescott College, AZ, USA

• San Francisco State University Foundation, CA, USA

• Stanford University, CA, USA

• Sterling College, VT, USA

• Unity College, ME, USA

• University of Dayton, OH, USA

• Humboldt State University, CA, USA

• Victoria University, Wellington, NZ

• Chico State University, California, USA

• College of Marshall Islands, Marshall Islands

• Goddard College, Vermont, USA

• Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden

• California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, California

• University Of Maine System, Maine, USA

• The New School, NY, USA

• Pacific School of Religion, CA, USA

• Brevard College, NC, USA

Foundations
In September the Rockefeller Brothers Fund announced it would be divesting it's fossil fuel investments totalling $60 million. “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,”

• Divest-Invest Philanthropic Group

• Sierra Club Foundation

• Wallace Global Fund

• Jubitz Family Foundation

• The Educational Foundation of America

• Park Foundation

• The Russell Family Foundation

• Compton Foundation

• KL Felicitas Foundation

• The Chorus Foundation

• Singing Field Foundation

• Nia Community Foundation

• The John Merck Fund

• The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust

• Solidago Foundation

• Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation

• Granary Foundation

• The Schmidt Family Foundation

• Ben & Jerry’s Foundation

• Pax Fund

• Ross Knowles Fund

• Madden Sainsbury Foundation

• Earth Welfare Foundation

• McKinnon Family Foundation

• The Hunt Foundation

• Pace Foundation

• Mullum Trust

• NSRC Fund

• Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation

• Merck Family Fund

Religious organisations
• Religious Institutions

• United Church of Christ – National

• Massachusetts United Church of Christ

• Minnesota United Church of Christ

• Evangelical Lutheran Church of Oregon

• First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake City, UT

• First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church in Cambridge, MA

• Portsmouth South Church Unitarian First Unitarian Church of Pittsfield, ME

• First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee, WI

• First Presbyterian Palo Alto, CA

• Uniting Church, New South Wales & ACT, Australia

• Dover Friends Meeting, Dover, NH

• Melbourne Unitarian Church, Australia

• Unitarian Universalist Society of Amherst, MA

• Anglican Diocese of Wellington, New Zealand

• Anglican Diocese of Auckland, New Zealand

• Anglican Diocese of Dunedin, New Zealand

• Anglican Diocese of Waiapu, New Zealand

• Anglican Diocese of Waikato and Taranaki, New Zealand

• Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia

• Anglican Diocese of Perth, Australia

• Anglican Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn, Australia

• Anglican Diocese of Melbourne, Australia

• Anglican National Super, Australia

• Brighthelm Church, Brighton, UK

• Society for Community Work

• Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, MA

• Maine Council of Churches, ME

• Trinity St. Paul’s United Church, Toronto, Canada

• Quakers in Britain

• Diakonia, Sweden

• Colorado Ratnashri Sangha

• First Unitarian Church, Ottawa

• Union Theological Seminary, New York City

• First Religious Society of Newburyport, MA

• Unitarian Society of Northampton & Florence, MA

• Unitarian Universalist Association

• Central Philadelphia Monthly Quaker Meeting, PA, USA

• Lansdowne Monthly Quaker Meeting, PA, USA

• Westtown Monthly Quaker Meeting, PA, USA

• Lehigh Valley Monthly Quaker Meeting, PA, USA

• Old Haverford Monthly Quaker Meeting, PA, USA

• Newtown Monthly Quaker Meeting, PA, USA

• Haverford Quarterly Quaker Meeting, PA, USA

• Jamaica Plain Unitarian Universalist, NY, USA

• World Council of Churches

• Community Friends Quaker Meeting, OH, USA

• Uniting Church in Australia Assembly, Australia

• Franciscan Sisters of Mary, MO, USA

• Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts, MA, USA

• Church of Sweden

• Unitarian Universalist Congregation of South County (UUCSC), RI, USA

• First Unitarian Church of Portland, OR, USA

• Mountain Vista Unitarian Universalist Congregation, AZ, USA

• First Universalist Church of Pittsfield, ME, USA

• Unitarian Church of Los Alamos, NM, USA

• Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto, CA, USA

• UU Fellowship of Corvallis, OR, USA

• Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Ames, IA, USA

• Lake County Unitarian Universalist Church, WI, USA

• First Parish (Old Ship Church), MA, USA

• All Souls UU Church, MA, USA

• Unity Temple UU Congregation, IL, USA

• First Parish Church UU, MA, USA

• Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church, VA, USA

• Church of England Diocese of Oxford, United Kingdom

• Quakers Religious Society of Friends, Australia

• The United Methodist Church, USA

• EarthSong, Australia

• Presentation Sisters, Queensland, Australia

• Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, CA, USA

• American Ethical Union, USA

• Pilgrim Lutheran Church, St. Paul, MN, USA