Climate change protests, divestments meet fossil fuel realities

On the heels of vast climate protests Sunday and Monday, the Rockefellers, who made their vast fortune on oil, joined other philanthropists and high-wealth individuals to announce pledges to divest $50 billion from fossil fuel investments as part of a global effort to halt global warming. It’s called the Global Divest-Invest coalition, and it will announce new pledges and members one day before 120 heads of state address the U.N. The move is the latest in a string of actions that brings increased awareness of climate change and momentum toward the U.N. Climate Change Summit in Paris next year.

We are quite convinced that if John D. Rockefeller 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.

Rockefeller heir Stephen Heintz, in a statement

Hope seems to spring eternal for a global agreement to address climate change, despite fierce opposition from the fossil fuel industry and the very long odds of any climate change legislation passing the U.S. Senate. Further lost in the excitement over increasing awareness of climate change, and hopes for a global agreement in Paris, is the reality that the global economy is only becoming more reliant on fossil fuels. Reflecting those carbon realities, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be noticeably absent from the U.N. climate summit this week. China and India are the No. 1 and No. 3 producers of greenhouse gases, respectively, and China recently passed the EU in emissions per capita—a stunning development given that millions of Chinese remain “off the grid”.

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