February 22, 2017

Divestment movement announces global mobilisation this May

GLOBAL — Today, the Fossil Free network announces a Global Divestment Mobilisation from 5-13 May 2017. Thousands worldwide will take action to push cities, universities, churches, pension funds, museums and other institutions to break their financial ties to the companies most responsible for causing climate change.

With regressive politics on the rise, and the impacts of climate change already devastating the livelihoods of communities around the world, divestment is expanding into new regions while existing campaigns gear up for escalation to help enact the immediate climate leadership the world urgently needs.

  • The divestment network in Europe will increase the pressure on universities, cities, churches, pension funds and museums to cut their ties to fossil fuel companies. The Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, the Louvre museum in Paris, and the London City Hall are among the targets as the movement escalates.

  • Communities across Australia will be calling on one of the country’s biggest banks – Westpac – to rule out funding for the Adani megamine and divest from fossil fuels.

  • In East Asia, groups will throw a spotlight on investors from Japan, China and South Korea that fund destructive fossil fuel projects that harm the health and livelihoods of communities in Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

  • More and more groups are taking action to promote fossil fuel divestment across Latin America, mainly in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. A vigil for the victims of climate disasters and for the refugees, will draw attention on the moral imperative to divest.

  • In South Africa, campaigners plan a push on the city of Cape Town to divest, while students plan to step up university divestment campaigns.

The fossil fuel industry has been knowingly driving this climate crisis for the last half century, funding climate denial and deception. Divestment campaigns aim to weaken the political influence of the industry.

To date almost 700 institutions across the globe representing funds worth over $5 trillion have made some form of divestment commitment. They include universities, faith and medical institutions, cities, the heirs to the Rockefeller oil fortune, as well as big financial players such as Norway’s sovereign wealth fund. The capital cities of France, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Denmark have all pledged publicly to stop investing in fossil fuels. Over a quarter of universities in the UK have committed to divest.

The Global Divestment Mobilisation will mark a new milestone for the growing movement for climate justice, away from political processes co-opted and corrupted by the industry.

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For more information visit: https://gofossilfree-org.gofossilfree.org/

Video: Global Divestment Mobilisation 2017

Photos: Global Divestment Day 2015

Contact: Melanie Mattauch, 350.org Europe Communications Coordinator, melanie@350.org, +49 151 5812 0184 (in Berlin)

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