divestment

1 October 2023News in Brief

Two-thirds of the UK higher education sector now holds some form of fossil-free commitment in terms of their investments.

In August, it was discovered that the Royal Agricultural University had incorporated a coal exclusion into their investment policy.

Then, in September, Plymouth Marjon University announced that it had added a fossil fuel exclusion to their investment policy.

With Plymouth Marjon, 12 of the 15 members of the Cathedrals Group of UK universities are now…

1 August 2023News in Brief

A London university is divesting from both fossil fuel and arms companies after a year-long ‘Invest for Change’ campaign led by Royal Holloway students’ union president Maia Jarvis.

Royal Holloway announced its new investment policy on 18 July, joining the nearly two-thirds of UK universities committed to divest from fossil fuels.

Students are now demanding the university ends career pipelines into the oil, gas and mining industries.

The student union was supported by…

1 August 2021Feature

A more just, zero-carbon world is now within reach

Renewable energy is ‘already more than capable of scaling up at the speed necessary to protect the climate, meet energy demands, ensure energy access for the poor, and support sustainable development’, according to Fossil Fuel Exit Strategy, a June 2021 report from the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS).

The problem is that, even if we stop fossil fuel expansion immediately, ‘with just the fossil fuels to be…

11 December 2020Feature

A climate action group experiments with Zoom campaigning

On 9 March, with some regret, Divest East Sussex postponed the sex strike.

Three days later, in a blog post entitled ‘#flattenthecurve’, we noted that cancelling the sex strike appeared to be the right decision ‘from a public health perspective’. (It was still 11 days before the UK went into lockdown.)

However, we also said that our campaign to divest East Sussex county council’s pension fund from fossil fuels would not be silent.
Five months later, we had a good go at…

1 December 2019News

East Sussex divestment campaigners to launch nonviolent action campaign

Divest East Sussex demonstrates outside a meeting of East Sussex county council, 15 October. Photo: Divest East Sussex

Climate action coalition Divest East Sussex is gearing up for nonviolent direct action after the first phase of its campaign came to a head on 15 October.

That was the day East Sussex county council was forced to hold a debate on its continued role in funding climate change after Divest East Sussex collected over 5,300 signatures on a petition demanding it…

1 October 2019Feature

Where XR and the climate movement need to go now

School strikers and supporters march in Manila, the Philippines, on a global day of action, 24 May. Photo: Leo Sabangan II / 350.org

The climate movement needs an acceleration of forward steps and more of the urgency of commitment that XR and the climate strikers have been demonstrating.

But urgency and commitment by themselves aren’t enough.

Daniel Hunter tells a powerful story in…