The Guardian, one of the world’s most respected and influential news organisations, has joined the fight to keep fossil fuels underground by launching its own divestment campaign in partnership with 350.org.
In just 24 hours, more than 75,000 people have joined the campaign on the Guardian’s website asking the world’s largest charitable foundations – the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust – to divest their endowments from fossil fuels.
In a watershed moment for the growing divestment movement, The Guardian outgoing editor-in-chief has decided to set the Guardian’s editorial sights on keeping the majority of fossil fuels underground and achieving significant progress on climate change before he steps down in June, after 20 years at the helm.
Both the Wellcome Trust and Gates Foundation are full of good people who recognise the huge threat that climate change poses to the health of millions — but their significant investments in fossil fuels are completely out of step with their mission and actively undermining their own good work.
Join the campaign to end this dangerous double standard now:
Together, we can convince these charitable organisations to lead by example and stop profiting from the industry wrecking our chances of a safe, healthy future. If the Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust divest from fossil fuels, it will send a powerful signal that tackling climate change and promoting global health and development are two sides of the same coin.
We know this can work – it already is! The fossil fuel divestment movement is winning new victories every week – from the City of Oslo to the Rockefeller Foundation – and each act of divestment helps build an even stronger case for keeping fossil fuels underground.
With enough of us on board – and working with The Guardian newspaper – we know we can convince huge health and development charities like Wellcome and Gates to divest and create the watershed moment needed for climate action.
Sign the petition now – and then please share it widely with friends and family
It’s completely counter-productive to help those affected by climate change using money made from the fossil fuel industry. And it’s increasingly clear that fossil fuels are a bad long term investment. To avoid climate crisis, we’re going to have to leave 80% fossil fuels in the ground — which means current fossil fuel shares are massively overvalued and investors could lose billions.
This is a battle we must win, and together we will. Over the coming months we’ll be working with The Guardian, Avaaz and other partners to help us secure some major divestment wins around the world – please do join us.
If you want to know more about the partnership between 350.org and The Guardian, click below to listen to a fascinating podcast by the editor-in-chief of The Guardian on why he decided it was time to use their influence to make an impact on climate change.