Brilliant news today at the Huddersfield Quakers commit to divest from fossil fuels!
The group made the decision at a meeting this month at the Friends Meeting House in Paddock, and will be reviewing their £35,000 financial reserves and bank holdings with immediate effect.
In 2011 Quakers in Britain committed to become a sustainable low-carbon community and also ‘to seek to create an economy in which our testimonies can flourish’. In 2013 Quakers in Britain made the decision to divest nationally-held funds from fossil fuel investment and make the first divestment commitment in the UK!
Chayley Collis, a member of Huddersfield Quakers who proposed the move, said:
“Scientists are telling us that 80% of known fossil fuel reserves need to stay in the ground to prevent catastrophic temperature rises.
“The business plan of the fossil fuel industry is clearly incompatible with a liveable planet. For the sake of humanity’s survival, we cannot afford to invest in fossil fuels any longer. If we don’t act now future generations will suffer the consequences of our inaction.”
The announcement comes during a flurry of divestment activity in Huddersfield for Global Divestment Day, with a film screening of ‘Do the Math’ at Huddersfield University Students’ Union on Friday, and colourful touring protest in the town centre on Saturday. With bubbles, power ballads, sequin dresses and a giant red heart, the tour will visit local banks and Kirklees Council’s offices calling for divestment. The group will be drumming up support for existing campaign to commit Kirklees to going fossil free.
Keep it up Huddersfield!