{"id":6396,"date":"2013-10-29T05:37:46","date_gmt":"2013-10-29T09:37:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=6396"},"modified":"2013-10-29T07:48:18","modified_gmt":"2013-10-29T11:48:18","slug":"fossil-fuel-divestment-fastest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/10\/fossil-fuel-divestment-fastest.html","title":{"rendered":"Fossil fuel divestment fastest"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\n\r\n\"Divestment<\/a>\r\nNot just\r\n\r\nfaster than apartheid divestment<\/a>;\r\nfaster than divestment from tobacco, armaments, and others:\r\nfossil fuel divestment.\r\nIt’s not about direct reduction of market capitalization;\r\nit’s about making it socially unacceptable to buy from stigmatized\r\ncompanies, and it works, and it’s working faster than ever for fossil fuels.\r\nOh, and fossil fuel companies are a tiny sliver of university endowments,\r\nso ditching them is pain free,\r\nespecially now that\r\n\r\nfossil fuel stock prices are not rising while solar stocks skyrocket<\/a>\r\n(and nuclear stocks don’t).\r\nGo fossil free, go VSU<\/a>.\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n\r\nStranded Assets and the Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign: What Does Divestment Mean for the Valuation of Fossil Fuel Assets?<\/a>\r\n8 October 2013 | Authors: Atif Ansar, Ben Caldecott, James Tilbury\r\n<\/td><\/tr><\/table>\r\nDamian Carrington wrote for the Guardian Monday 7 October 2013\t\r\n\r\nCampaign against fossil fuels growing, says study:\r\nInvestors being persuaded to take their money out of fossil fuel sector, according to University of Oxford study<\/a>,\r\n
\r\n

\r\n\r\nA campaign to persuade investors to take their money out of the fossil fuel sector is growing faster than any previous divestment campaign and could cause significant damage to coal, oil and gas companies, according to a \r\nstudy from the University of Oxford<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nThe report compares the current \r\nfossil fuel divestment campaign<\/a>, which has attracted 41 institutions since 2010, with those against tobacco, apartheid in South Africa, armaments, gambling and pornography. It concludes that the direct financial impact of such campaigns on share prices or the ability to raise funds is small but the reputational damage can still have major financial consequences.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"Tobacco<\/a>\r\n\r\n

\r\n“Stigmatisation poses a far-reaching threat to fossil fuel companies — any direct impacts of divestment pale in comparison,” said Ben Caldecott, a research fellow at the \r\nUniversity of Oxford<\/a>‘s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, and an author of the report.\r\n“In every case we reviewed, divestment campaigns were successful in lobbying for restrictive legislation.”<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe report is part of a new research programme on stranded assets backed by Aviva Investors, HSBC, Standard & Poor’s and others. It found: “The fossil fuel campaign has achieved a lot in the relatively short time since its inception.”<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nTobacco divestment went pretty fast once Harvard kicked in,\r\nbut fossil fuel divestment is already going faster\r\n\r\neven before Harvard joins in<\/a>.\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"Cumulative<\/a>\r\n

\r\nThe study explored the direct effects of divestment and found that that\r\nwasn’t the point: the amount withdrawn would still be small compared to\r\nfossil fuel company capitalization.\r\n

\r\n

\r\nHowever, the team concluded: “The outcome of the stigmatisation process, which the fossil fuel divestment campaign has now triggered, poses the most far-reaching threat to fossil fuel companies and the vast \r\nenergy<\/a> value chain.”<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nAnd that stigmatization can lead to the stigmatized companies\r\nbeing shunned for contracts, especially by governments.\r\nAnd that hits them in the sales.\r\n

\r\n

\r\nBill McKibben, the environmental campaigner who leads the 350.org divestment campaign which is expanding from the US into Europe this autumn, said: “This divestment campaign is just one front in the climate fight, but of all the actions people can take to bring about structural change, it’s probably the easiest. Severing our ties with the guys digging up the carbon won’t bankrupt them—but it will start to politically bankrupt them, and make their job of dominating the planet’s politics that much harder.”<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nLeave those fossil fuels in the ground.\r\nPut solar panels on rooftops and windfarms offshore.\r\n

\r\nIt’s not that hard.\r\nFossil fuels are a sliver of university endowments:\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"Fossil<\/a>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nAnd fossil fuel stocks are stagnant while\r\n\r\nsolar stocks skyrocket<\/a>.\r\n

\r\nSo a tiny effort by universities can kick off an effect that can topple\r\nthe mighty fossil fuel industry.\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"Fossil<\/a>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nPlus fossil fuel divestment can help\r\n\r\nundermine the political power of the fossil fuel industry<\/a>\r\nand thereby\r\n\r\nget its sooty grip off our governments<\/a>.\r\nGo fossil free; go politically free.\r\n

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