In the past week, Norwegian pension fund and insurer Storebrand moved to divest funds from tar sands production and Holland-based Rabobank announced it will stop lending money for unconventional energy extraction projects. The moves follow the release of a new analysis of UK-based think tank Carbon Tracker’s latest Unburnable Carbon report, which said 80% of fossil fuel reserves need to be left in the ground if the worst effects of climate change are to be avoided. In response, 350.org U.S. Managing Director Phil Aroneanu issued the following statement:
“In the past year we have seen the financial sector begin to wake up to the reality that investments in fossil fuel companies represent a bad bet. Some of the action can be attributed to citizen-led campaigns, and some of it can be attributed to a simple reading by financial analysts of what scientists have been telling the world about how much carbon can be burned without cooking the planet.
“Worldwide over 400 university campuses and dozens of cities and states have powerful citizen-led campaigns underway to push for divestment. The movement will grow in October, when 350.org’s Fossil Free campaign will expand to Europe and beyond.
“This appears to be the time when the moral case for action is joining with the sober thinking that in terms of dollars and cents it’s good business to pull money out from the fossil fuel industry. With the effects of climate change being felt by communities across the world, action can’t come fast enough. A bet on fossil fuels is a bet against a sustainable future.”
MEDIA CONTACTS: Daniel Kessler, 510-501-1779, dk@350.org; Phil Aroneanu, phil@350.org, +90 537 498 62 32