divestment - how institutions and individuals use their investments to slow climate change
Unitarian Universalists and others campaigning against climate change using the power of their investments portfolios to influence corporate actions that impact the environment. Here are recent developments, as well as links to background material.
Headlines:
New: Case for divesting from fossil fuels strengthens
Rockefeller Foundation dropping oil, gas, Coal
Unitarians vote to divest of fossil fuels
Investors secure major commitments
Bill moyers on divestment
Read more below
article on exit of "smart money" from fossil fuels
"When the fossil-fuel divestment movement first stirred on college campuses three years ago, you could almost hear Big Oil and Wall Street laughing. Crude prices were flirting with $100 a barrel, and domestic oil production, from Texas to North Dakota, was in the midst of a historic boom. But the quixotic campus campaign suddenly has the smell of smart money," Rolling Stone reported in a detailed article.
"One of the biggest names in the history of Big Oil – the Rockefellers – announced last September that they would be purging the portfolio of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund of "risky" oil investments. And that risk has been underscored by the sudden collapse of the oil market. After cresting at more than $107 in mid-June, the price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate dipped below $50 a barrel in early January. The crash carries big costs: Goldman Sachs warned that nearly $1 trillion in planned oil-field investments would be unprofitable – even if oil were to stabilize at $70 per barrel. The industry is already scaling back the hunt for high-cost sources of new oil. Chevron has shelved drilling in the Canadian Arctic, and Hercules Offshore, a significant driller in the Gulf of Mexico, has idled four rigs and laid off more than 300 workers." Read more.
"One of the biggest names in the history of Big Oil – the Rockefellers – announced last September that they would be purging the portfolio of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund of "risky" oil investments. And that risk has been underscored by the sudden collapse of the oil market. After cresting at more than $107 in mid-June, the price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate dipped below $50 a barrel in early January. The crash carries big costs: Goldman Sachs warned that nearly $1 trillion in planned oil-field investments would be unprofitable – even if oil were to stabilize at $70 per barrel. The industry is already scaling back the hunt for high-cost sources of new oil. Chevron has shelved drilling in the Canadian Arctic, and Hercules Offshore, a significant driller in the Gulf of Mexico, has idled four rigs and laid off more than 300 workers." Read more.
New: bill moyers report on divestment
The Archbishop of South Africa, Desmond Tutu, has called for an international “anti-apartheid-style boycott” against the fossil fuel industry in response to global warming. “People of conscience need to break their ties with corporations financing the injustice of climate change,” the Nobel Peace Prize laureate wrote in an essay . Tutu’s call to action also urges a strategy of divestment, the selling off of stocks and other investments in the name of an urgent cause.
Bill spoke earlier this year with with two leaders who helped inspire the new fossil fuel divestment movement that Tutu is encouraging. Ellen Dorsey is executive director of the Wallace Global Fund and a catalyst in the coalition of 17 foundations known as Divest-Invest Philanthropy. Thomas Van Dyck is Senior Vice President – Financial Advisor at RBC Wealth Management, and founder of As You Sow, a shareholder advocacy foundation.
They are urging foundations, faith groups, pension funds, municipalities and universities to sell their shares in polluting industries and reinvest in companies committed to climate change solutions.
“The climate crisis is so urgent that if you own fossil fuels, you own climate change,” Dorsey told Moyers. Van Dyck adds that reinvestment is needed to create “a sustainable economy that’s based on the energy of the future, not on the energy of the past.”
Bill spoke earlier this year with with two leaders who helped inspire the new fossil fuel divestment movement that Tutu is encouraging. Ellen Dorsey is executive director of the Wallace Global Fund and a catalyst in the coalition of 17 foundations known as Divest-Invest Philanthropy. Thomas Van Dyck is Senior Vice President – Financial Advisor at RBC Wealth Management, and founder of As You Sow, a shareholder advocacy foundation.
They are urging foundations, faith groups, pension funds, municipalities and universities to sell their shares in polluting industries and reinvest in companies committed to climate change solutions.
“The climate crisis is so urgent that if you own fossil fuels, you own climate change,” Dorsey told Moyers. Van Dyck adds that reinvestment is needed to create “a sustainable economy that’s based on the energy of the future, not on the energy of the past.”
ROCKEFELLER FUND DIVESTING
The Rockefellers built their vast fortune on oil. Now the family whose legendary wealth flowed from Standard Oil has announced on Monday that its $860 million charitable organization, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, is joining the divestment movement.
UNITARIANS TO RID PORTFOLIO OF MOST FOSSIL FUEL STOCKS
Delegates at the 2014 General Assembly (GA) of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) in June passed a resolution calling for divestment from fossil fuel companies in the UUA Common Endowment Fund (UUCEF).
Meeting in Providence, Rhode Island, the delegates directed fund managers to stop investing in companies that are listed on the Carbon Tracker 200 roster of the firms that hold the largest reserves of coal, petroleum and natural gas around the world.
Over the next first years, fund managers were directed to divest holdings of all Carbon Tracker 200 companies.
Additionally, the delegates instructed fund managers to seek investments in companies that are seeking positive solutions to move away from fossil fuel dependency.
Fund managers were also directed to maintain holdings in companies for the purpose of engaging them through shareholder activism, whereby individuals and entities that who own stock in a company may place questions to a vote of all shareholders.
The resolution requires the UUA to:
• Cease purchasing securities of CT200 companies as UUCEF investments immediately
• Continue to divest its UUCEF holdings of directly held securities of CT 200 companies, reaching full divestment of these companies within five years
• Work with its current and prospective pooled-asset managers for the purpose of creating more fossil fuel-free investment opportunities, with the objective of full divestment of UUCEF indirect holdings in CT200 companies within five years
• Invest an appropriate share of UUCEF holdings in securities that will support a swift transition to a clean energy economy, such as renewable energy and energy efficiency-related securities
• Report, via the UUA President and the Treasurer, to each General Assembly from 2015 through 2019 on our Association’s progress on the above resolutions
Following the vote, UUA President Peter Morales said, “The UUA has a long-standing history of fighting for our environment. I am proud that we are going to put our money where our values are on this issue.”
The resolution was carefully crafted by a committed group of activists known as UU Divest (formally, Unitarian Universalists for Fossil Fuel Divestment and Sustainable Reinvestment) in collaboration with members of the UUA Committee on Socially Responsible Investing and the UUA Investment Committee. The UUA Board of Trustees endorsed the resolution as it was originally written at their meeting on April 13.
Terry Wiggins, a leader in the divestment effort, stated, “We, private citizens and the private and nonprofit sectors, need to take matters into our own hands, and use every strategy we can to convince the government and public at large of our planetary emergency, and that we must act now.”
The resolution allows the UUA to retain investments in fossil fuel companies with which it is engaged in shareholder actions seeking environmental justice. David Stewart, co-chair of the UUA’s Socially Responsible Investing Committee, stated, “We are encouraged that the UUA can continue its longstanding successes in shareholder advocacy while helping to lead the divestment movement with the approval of today’s fossil fuel divestment resolution. We believe strongly that any effort that can change the current trajectory of climate change is a welcome improvement.”
The UUA has a long history of shareholder activism on a variety of issues including environmental justice. Most recently, the UUA has worked to increase transparency in the executive office of Chevron Corp. and supported new Environmental Protection Agency limits on carbon emissions for new and existing power plants.
The UUA is a faith community of more than 1,000 congregations that bring to the world a vision of religious freedom, tolerance, and social justice.
Investors Secure Groundbreaking Corporate Commitments to Protect Forests, Reduce Carbon EmissionsRecord-high number of shareholder resolutions filed in 2014 proxy season drive more aggressive action by top companies on climate-related issues
In response to nearly 150 climate-related resolutions filed by institutional investors during the 2014 proxy season, 20 major international corporations have committed to set goals to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions or sustainably source palm oil –a leading driver of global deforestation, which causes nearly 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions according to the Environmental Protection Agency. An additional 45 corporate commitments were secured related to sustainability reporting, energy efficiency and carbon asset risk, the activist group Ceres announced in Boston.
A group of investors achieved major commitments from the following companies to source 100 percent fully traceable, responsibly produced palm oil: ConAgra, J.M. Smucker Co., Kellogg, General Mills, Mondelez, Panera and Safeway. The companies – food and beverage firms, supermarket companies and grocery store chains – include some of the top 10 purchasers in the $44 billion palm oil industry, which has proliferated the past few decades as palm oil has become the most widely used vegetable oil in the world. Over the last year, suppliers of more than 55 percent of the world’s palm oil committed to produce or trade 100% deforestation-free palm oil.
Investors that secured the palm oil commitments include: Clean Yield, Domini, Social Investments, Green Century Capital Management, The New York State Comptroller’s Office, Trillium, and members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), in which the Unitarian Universalist Association plays a leading role.
To learn more about palm oil production, deforestation and global warming, read the Worldwatch Institute's series.
The website Social Funds tracks issues relating to divestment and other elements of Sustainable, Responsible and Impact Investing.
In response to nearly 150 climate-related resolutions filed by institutional investors during the 2014 proxy season, 20 major international corporations have committed to set goals to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions or sustainably source palm oil –a leading driver of global deforestation, which causes nearly 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions according to the Environmental Protection Agency. An additional 45 corporate commitments were secured related to sustainability reporting, energy efficiency and carbon asset risk, the activist group Ceres announced in Boston.
A group of investors achieved major commitments from the following companies to source 100 percent fully traceable, responsibly produced palm oil: ConAgra, J.M. Smucker Co., Kellogg, General Mills, Mondelez, Panera and Safeway. The companies – food and beverage firms, supermarket companies and grocery store chains – include some of the top 10 purchasers in the $44 billion palm oil industry, which has proliferated the past few decades as palm oil has become the most widely used vegetable oil in the world. Over the last year, suppliers of more than 55 percent of the world’s palm oil committed to produce or trade 100% deforestation-free palm oil.
Investors that secured the palm oil commitments include: Clean Yield, Domini, Social Investments, Green Century Capital Management, The New York State Comptroller’s Office, Trillium, and members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), in which the Unitarian Universalist Association plays a leading role.
To learn more about palm oil production, deforestation and global warming, read the Worldwatch Institute's series.
The website Social Funds tracks issues relating to divestment and other elements of Sustainable, Responsible and Impact Investing.
SHAREHOLDER ACTIVISM
The Unitarian Universalist Association has for many years taken an active role in actions intended to give people who own stocks in corporations a greater voice. The UUA cooperates with non-governmental organizations and other denominations in filing such resolutions, in subjects including climate change.
This type of shareholder activism falls under the broad category of Socially Responsible Investing (SRI), also known as Sustainable, Responsible and Impact Investing, or investing using Environmental, Governmental and Social (ESG) criteria. A national organization coordinating these efforts is the US Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment, largely representing investment professionals.
In the first quarter of 2014, the UUA was lead filer in three of the 55 resolutions filed on the subject of climate change or gas flaring. UUA assets represent $165 million of $11 trillion in assets in the group.
An organization that plays a key coordination role in green shareholder activism is Ceres, based in Boston and founded 25 years ago in response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill … “to bring environmentalists and capitalists together to forge a new sustainable business model, one that would protect the health of the planet…”
Through its Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), which includes the Unitarian Universalist Association, Ceres tracks and coordinates shareholder activism. (Click on any item to learn more about the resolution).
Here are examples of the resolutions in which the UUA played a leading role:
- Alpha Natural Resources, Inc. Mining & Resources Report on goals and plans to address carbon asset risk Climate Change; Coal; Greenhouse Gas Emissions Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations Filed 2014;
- American Electric Power Co., Inc. Electric Power Review public policy advocacy on energy policy and climate change position Climate Change; Energy Efficiency (buildings); Public Policy Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations;
- Oasis Petroleum Inc. Oil and Gas Quantitative goals for reducing flaring Air Pollution; Greenhouse Gas Emissions Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations Withdrawn; Ongoing dialogue 2014;
- Alpha Natural Resources, Inc. Mining & Resources Climate risk report Climate Change; Greenhouse Gas Emissions Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations Vote: 18%;
- SunTrust Banks, Inc. Financial Services Sustainability report including climate change Climate Change; Sustainability Reporting Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations Vote: 25.6% 2011;
- Valero Energy Corporation Oil and Gas Political spending review Climate Change; Political Spending; Public Policy Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations Vote: 34.8% 2011 .
The Unitarian Universalist Association has for many years taken an active role in actions intended to give people who own stocks in corporations a greater voice. The UUA cooperates with non-governmental organizations and other denominations in filing such resolutions, in subjects including climate change.
This type of shareholder activism falls under the broad category of Socially Responsible Investing (SRI), also known as Sustainable, Responsible and Impact Investing, or investing using Environmental, Governmental and Social (ESG) criteria. A national organization coordinating these efforts is the US Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment, largely representing investment professionals.
In the first quarter of 2014, the UUA was lead filer in three of the 55 resolutions filed on the subject of climate change or gas flaring. UUA assets represent $165 million of $11 trillion in assets in the group.
An organization that plays a key coordination role in green shareholder activism is Ceres, based in Boston and founded 25 years ago in response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill … “to bring environmentalists and capitalists together to forge a new sustainable business model, one that would protect the health of the planet…”
Through its Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), which includes the Unitarian Universalist Association, Ceres tracks and coordinates shareholder activism. (Click on any item to learn more about the resolution).
Here are examples of the resolutions in which the UUA played a leading role:
- Alpha Natural Resources, Inc. Mining & Resources Report on goals and plans to address carbon asset risk Climate Change; Coal; Greenhouse Gas Emissions Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations Filed 2014;
- American Electric Power Co., Inc. Electric Power Review public policy advocacy on energy policy and climate change position Climate Change; Energy Efficiency (buildings); Public Policy Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations;
- Oasis Petroleum Inc. Oil and Gas Quantitative goals for reducing flaring Air Pollution; Greenhouse Gas Emissions Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations Withdrawn; Ongoing dialogue 2014;
- Alpha Natural Resources, Inc. Mining & Resources Climate risk report Climate Change; Greenhouse Gas Emissions Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations Vote: 18%;
- SunTrust Banks, Inc. Financial Services Sustainability report including climate change Climate Change; Sustainability Reporting Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations Vote: 25.6% 2011;
- Valero Energy Corporation Oil and Gas Political spending review Climate Change; Political Spending; Public Policy Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations Vote: 34.8% 2011 .