IndyMedia - Vrij Media Centrum Nederland

Wanneer: 05/05/2017 - 16:30 t/m 13/05/2017 - 16:30

The Goal: Utilize a global divestment period to solidify the association between climate impacts as the moral urgency to divest from fossil fuels and to build momentum of divestment in new regions.

The Story: 2016 was the hottest year in history, with each consecutive month marking the hottest on record. From record heat and extreme floods and droughts to stronger and more frequent storms, climate impacts continue to devastate the livelihoods of communities all around the world, disproportionately threatening those who have done the least to contribute to the crisis. And all of this is happening at a pace and magnitude far beyond previous expectations of scientists.

We know who is responsible: the fossil fuel industry knowingly perpetuating the climate crisis. Fossil fuel companies have spent the last half a century funding climate denial front groups and orchestrating a campaign to sow deception and block climate action.

It is investments in the fossil fuel industry that funds climate impacts. That’s why our governments, universities, religious organizations, cultural institutions, individuals, and more, must divest and cut ties with this rogue industry in order to curb the worst of future impacts of climate change. We must use every tool in our arsenal to act on the climate crisis.

The world is moving away from fossil fuels. Since its inception in 2012, the fossil fuel divestment has played a significant role in the movement for climate justice that is successfully shifting the zeitgeist away from the fossil fuel economy.

All around the world, the fossil fuel resistance movement is growing -- people are mobilizing against fossil fuel infrastructure, and putting their bodies on the line in the call for a just transition toward a 100% renewable energy economy that works for all.

Fossil fuel divestment has become a global, mainstream $5 trillion movement because our institutions and society know that we need a rapid and equitable shift of economic and political control away from extractive corporations. Through divestment, institutions have a unique opportunity to address inequity and reinvest in an economy that prioritizes people and planet.

Climate impacts are taking us into uncharted territory and climate action by governments is not happening quickly enough to ensure we avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis. Divestment is a concrete way to expedite the response and actively build the world we need where people and planet are safeguarded.

Divestment is a tactic, climate justice is the goal.