The New Yorker: The Weight of the World The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or U.N.F.C.C.C., has by now been ratified by 195 countries, which, depending on how you count, represents either all the countries in the world or all the countries and then some.
The president formally unveiled on Monday his administration’s plan to cut future carbon emissions from power plants.
“The greatest investment capital shift in history will be long and complex, but it is well underway,” @CFigueres #DivestInvest
Huge milestone for our movement, & a victory for students, pensioners, people of faith who made the path by walking. pic.twitter.com/z5qWURLXfG
Prof. Tim Burke writes in his popular blog :
“Since Swarthmore seems likely to be stuck debating or struggling over divestment for at least another year or more, I remain interested in trying to push at the central weakness of the pro-divestment argument. The major argument of many divestment advocates is that divestment by higher education and other large civic organizations will cumulatively stigmatize fossil fuel producers within public culture.” … read more …
Despite a large student protest and strong activist sentiment among its students and alumni, Swarthmore College opted to not divest its $1.9 billion endowment from fossil fuels after a vote by its board of managers on Saturday.
The word “divestment” is nowhere to be found in the nearly 200 pages of the papal encyclical released Thursday, but by addressing the threat of climate change in such a forceful way, Pope Francis is likely to add momentum to the movement by big institutions to sell holdings tied to fossil-fuel stocks.
Swarthmore College’s board announced Saturday that the college will not sell holdings in companies in the fossil fuel industry, a move sought by a long student sit-in and endorsed by many other students and faculty members.
Divestment is the opposite of investment – it is the removal of your investment capital from stocks, bonds or funds. The global movement for fossil fuel divestment (sometimes also called disinvestment) is asking institutions to move their money out of oil, coal and gas companies for both moral and financial reasons.
After a 32-day sit-in outside the Swarthmore College finance and investments office, a resolution of support from the faculty and a petition bearing 1,100 alumni signatures, Swarthmore Mountain Justice members were hopeful the board of managers would divest the college’s endowment of fossil fuel funds as a major step towards halting climate change.