From a Reuters dispatch at Business Insider:
Since the divestment movement launched three years ago, some 650 individuals and 180 institutions, including 50 new foundations, which hold over $50 billion in total assets, pledged to divest from fossil fuels over five years using a variety of approaches.
One of the signatories is the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Stephen Heintz, an air [sic] of Standard Oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, said the move to divest away from fossil fuels would be in line with his wishes.
Would Rockefeller go green?
“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...."(At least they didn't call him an airhead.)
The Church of England also has decided to sell its investments in coal and oil-sand producers.
Maybe no
Swathmore, described as the birthplace of the divestiture movement, has declined to dump its fossil-fuel stocks. The college opts to stick with its investment guideline that requires management for “the best long-term financial results, rather than to pursue other social objectives.”
Two big guns of university investing, Harvard and Yale, also have declined to divest.
What next?
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund has dumped its coal investments and proposes to gradually ease out of oil. Institutional investors who decline to do the same may see socially responsible investing as a slippery slope. Few public corporations are free from all social stigmas.
Swathmore, described as the birthplace of the divestiture movement, has declined to dump its fossil-fuel stocks. The college opts to stick with its investment guideline that requires management for “the best long-term financial results, rather than to pursue other social objectives.”
Two big guns of university investing, Harvard and Yale, also have declined to divest.
What next?
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund has dumped its coal investments and proposes to gradually ease out of oil. Institutional investors who decline to do the same may see socially responsible investing as a slippery slope. Few public corporations are free from all social stigmas.
For instance, maybe endowments should divest companies that pay CEO's more than twice what said CEO's are worth. But then, where could they reinvest?
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1 comment:
If the Rockefellers are selling, I'm buying. They are selling at a market low, caused by the current oversupply of oil. There's still billions of profits to made in fossil fuels, renewables, not so much.
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