Rockefeller family to sell oil investments to reinvest in renewables
Updated about 8 hours agoTue 23 Sep 2014, 11:42am
The heirs of the Rockefeller family, who made their vast fortune in oil, have joined in a pledge to divest more than $56 billion of fossil fuel investments to reinvest in clean energy on the eve of a major climate change summit in New York.
The Global Divest-Invest coalition has drawn 650 individuals and 180 institutions, which control billions of dollars in fossil fuel assets, to switch to renewables over five years using a variety of approaches.
One of the signatories is Rockefeller Brothers Fund and heir of Standard Oil tycoon John D Rockefeller, Stephen Heintz, who said the move would be in line with his wishes.
"We are quite convinced that if he were alive today, as an astute businessman looking out to the future, he would be moving out of fossil fuels and investing in clean, renewable energy," he said.
Another of the higher profile institutional divestments came in May, when Stanford University said it would no longer use any of its $21 billion endowment to invest in coal mining companies.
New York mayor Bill de Blasio on Sunday unveiled a new plan for the city to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent from 2005 levels by 2050.
All 3,000 major city-owned buildings would be retrofitted with energy-saving heating, cooling and light systems, but he said meeting the commitment would also require significant investments by private landlords.
South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, an anti-Apartheid figure who has been a strong voice on the need for economic divestments, will call for a freeze on all new fossil fuel exploration leading up to the UN summit.
"We can no longer continue feeding our addiction to fossil fuels as if there is no tomorrow, for there will be no tomorrow," he said.
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that August 2014 was the warmest on record, 0.75 degrees Celsius above the 20th century global average of 15.6 degrees.
The heads of state of 120 nations will address the United Nations in New York on Tuesday on how their countries will contribute to a global effort to halt a dangerous rise in temperatures.
