Controversy over Koch Foundation Funded Center at U Pitt
Koch Foundation gift sparks heated Faculty Assembly meeting. By SUSAN JONES, University Tiimes, Dec. 5, 2019. “The questions and concerns surrounding a $4.2 million gift from the Koch Foundation to start a new center at Pitt’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs haven’t gone away since the University officially approved the funding in October. (More...)
Money Is the Oxygen on Which the Fire of Global Warming Burns
Bill McKibben, The New Yorker, September 17, 2019. What if the banking, asset-management, and insurance industries moved away from fossil fuels? I’m skilled at eluding the fetal crouch of despair—because I’ve been working on climate change for thirty years, I’ve learned to parcel out my angst, to keep my distress under control. But, in the (More...)
Next Steps on University of Pittsburgh Divestment Effort
Patrick Gallagher, Chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh, released a letter in September 2019 outlining the next steps he is asking the Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor and Chief Financial Officer to pursue. This is a follow-up to the report from the Socially Responsible Investment Committee that Gallagher formed in response to student (More...)
Big Money Starts to Dump Stocks That Pose Climate Risks
By Kelly Gilblom, Bloomberg, August 7, 2019. After years of meetings and shareholder resolutions, some funds are starting to simply divest from coal and oil stocks. Earlier this year, one of Meryam Omi’s deputies at Legal & General Investment Management sat down with board members and managers from Exxon Mobil Corp. to discuss how the (More...)
Pittsburgh’s EQT one of 700 companies targeted for not reporting environmental information
CDP News Release, June 17 2019. Group of 88 investors target over 700 companies for not reporting environmental information June 17, 2019, London: 88 investors with nearly US$10 trillion assets are targeting companies that are not transparent enough about their environmental impact, and pushing them to disclose this information through CDP, the non-profit global environmental (More...)
Mayor Peduto Pushes To Rid City Pension Fund Of Fossil Fuels, Firearms Money
KDKA News, June 5, 2019. PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Mayor Bill Peduto wants money from fossil fuels and firearms to be kept out of the city’s pension funds. Cities, states and universities across the country are considering similar plans to take pension money out of fossil fuels, out of guns, out of for-profit prisons. The mayor’s (More...)
Voters choose divestment, Peterson as executive VP
By Brian Gentry and Emily Wolfe March 6, 2019, The Pitt News. Anaïs Peterson won big in Tuesday’s runoff SGB election — and so did one of her major initiatives, as more than 2,000 students said Pitt should divest from fossil fuels in a referendum vote. Of the 2,401 students who voted on the initiative, (More...)
Disobedient art can win the fight against artwashing
Sept. 17, 2018. In this guest blog, Fossil Free Culture NL reflects on their campaign against Shell sponsorship. Disobedient art can win the fight against artwashing! The proof is right here in black and white. With the flurry of deal dropping announcements in The Netherlands this (baking hot) summer, the question really has been begged: (More...)
Push for Fossil Free from New York Mayor De Blasio as NY Divests
Friends, This week, America’s largest city became America’s first major city to set itself on the path to divesting from Big Oil. Yes, we’re talking about New York City. And not only that, we’re suing. We’ve filed a lawsuit against the biggest culprits that got us into the climate crisis: ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and (More...)
NY and NYC DIVEST
New York, NY — Today, after over five years of community campaigning for New York to divest from fossil fuels, City Comptroller Scott Stringer and Governor Andrew Cuomo each released separate proposals to freeze all current fossil fuel investments, divest New York’s public pension funds fossil fuel companies, and reinvest in renewable energy. Together, New York’s pension funds are among (More...)