The fossil fuel industry is unequivocally driving us towards a global climate crisis: we will not keep dangerous climate change at bay without halting our extraction of fossil-fuels. People & Planet is calling on universities to move their money from fossil fuel investments to green energy; to stop the greenwash and to support a clean energy future for all.
At the Barclays Annual General Meeting (AGM), the Chairman John McFarlane told shareholders that the bank would be withdrawing their financing of fracking company Third Energy - licensed to frack in Ryedale, North Yorkshire. Barclays owned a 97% controlling stakes in Third Energy. This was a huge victory for the anti-fracking and climate justice movement in the UK, showing the power of organising and building coalitions in our local communities.
UK emerges as campaign’s world leader as nine new institutions announce commitments . Over a third of universities in the UK have made fossil free commitments, as nine new UK universities have committed to never invest in fossil fuel companies. This brings the total to fifty four institutions which have taken action to exclude fossil fuel companies from their investment portfolios.
The number of UK higher education institutions vowing to exclude fossil fuel from investments grew to 43 - a significant milestone as it meant over a quarter of UK universities were now committed to divest from fossil fuels.
Glasgow University became the first academic institution in Europe to divest from the fossil fuel industry, in a turning point for the Fossil Free campaign!
After 12 months of campaigning, led by the Glasgow University Climate Action Society and involving over 1,300 students, the university court voted to begin divesting £18m from the fossil fuel industry and freeze new investments across its entire endowment of £128m.
University of Edinburgh announced it would move its entire investment portfolio out of the fossil fuel industry over the next three years. The University currently holds £6.3million in fossil fuels companies: Total, Atlas Copco and BG Group. The University’s endowment is the third largest in the UK, behind Cambridge and Oxford, making the decision the largest full divestment of any UK university so far. This came after a long-running student campaign and the University's 2015 decision to divest from coal & tar sands following a 10-day occupation.
