Browse Cases

Showing 1-10 of 10 results

Barnard College wins divestment from fossil fuel companies, 2013-2017

Country
United States
Time period
October, 2013 to March, 2017
Classification
Change
Cluster
Economic Justice
Total points
9 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Olivia Robbins 11/05/2019

Although Barnard College was part of Columbia University, the two institutions maintained separate endowments. As a result, BCD split into Columbia Divest for Climate Justice and Divest Barnard in the Fall of 2014. Next semester, in the Spring of 2015, Divest Barnard formally launched their campaign for Barnard College to divest from fossil fuels.

Syracuse University students win fossil fuel divestment, 2012-2014

Country
United States
Time period
10 October, 2012 to 21 November, 2014
Classification
Change
Cluster
Environment
Total points
10 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Yin Xiao and Clare Perez, 22/03/2017

Divest SU – a group of concerned students at Syracuse University (SU) joined by activists at the nearby State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) – started the SU Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign to fight for climate justice through demanding the school administration freeze new investments in fossil fuel companies and fully divest from the industry. This campaign was a part of an international student movement to pressure universities and colleges to stop investing in oil, coal and gas companies.

City of Seattle severs financial ties with Wells Fargo to protest funding of Dakota Access Pipeline, 2016-2017

Country
United States
Time period
December, 2016 to February, 2017
Classification
Change
Cluster
Environment
Human Rights
Total points
8 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Seimi Park, 15/03/2017

In August of 2016, construction began for the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), a $3.78 billion project that aimed to transport crude oil over 1,172 miles, from North Dakota to Illinois. The pipeline not only threatened climate stability, but also invaded the sacred lands of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and put their water supply, which came from the Missouri River, at severe risk.

University of Oregon Students win divestment from fossil fuels, 2013-2016

Country
United States
Time period
December, 2013 to September, 2016
Classification
Change
Cluster
Environment
Total points
9 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Madison Shoraka, 22/02/2017

In December of 2013 at The University of Oregon, a group of students founded Divest UO, to persuade the University of Oregon Foundation (the Board of Trustees) to divest from the fossil fuel industry. Over the next two and a half years, Divest UO employed multiple tactics including a mock wedding, numerous sit-ins, and several teach-ins to achieve their goal.

University of Mary Washington students win fossil fuel divestment, 2015-2016

Country
United States
Time period
February, 2015 to February, 2016
Classification
Change
Cluster
Environment
Human Rights
Total points
9 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Seimi Park 15/02/2017

In October of 2014, two students at the University of Mary Washington (UMW), Benjamin Hermerding, president of the Young Democrats, and Nate Levin, member of DivestUMW, requested an informal meeting with UMW administration to discuss the school’s investment portfolio. The open question-and-answer session focused primarily on the 5-year plan released by UMW’s Strategic Planning Task Force, which prioritized fiscally competitive investments.

University of Massachusetts students win fossil fuel divestment, 2012-2016

Country
United States
Time period
01 December, 2012 to 20 April, 2016
Classification
Change
Cluster
Environment
Total points
10 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Yin Xiao, 15/02/2017

Divest UMass – a group of concerned students – started the UMass Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign to fight for climate justice through demanding divestment by the UMass Foundation from fossil fuel companies and promoting reinvestment of funds into projects that supported “social justice, equality, and sustainability.” This cross-campus campaign was a part of a multi-school, national student movement to pressure administrations at various universities and colleges to stop investing in fossil fuel companies.

University of Hawaii Students, Faculty and Staff Successfully Campaign for Fossil Fuel Divestment, (2013-2015)

Country
United States
Time period
September, 2013 to 21 May, 2015
Classification
Change
Cluster
Environment
Human Rights
Total points
9.5 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Lewis Fitzgerald-Holland, 1/11/2015

In the fall of 2013, University of Hawaii graduate student and oceanography major Michelle Tigchelaar launched a fossil fuel divestment campaign after witnessing the devastation that climate change was bring to Hawaii’s famed coral reefs. Initially, the campaign was organized by members of the University’s Graduate Student Organization. The campaign launched in September 2013 with a movie screening 350.org’s movie Do the Math. The campaign lost traction in its first year after several members of the Graduate Student Organization graduated in the at the end of the fall semester.

Students press Chico State University to divest from fossil fuels, 2013-2014

Country
United States
Time period
September, 2013 to December 11, 2014
Classification
Change
Cluster
Environment
Total points
10 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Rebecca Griest 30/11/2015

In 2013, about ninety-seven percent of the publishing climate scientists agreed that climate change was occurring, and it was due to human activities. If people continued at the same rate of carbon dioxide emission, they risked permanently changing the planet’s climate and triggering irreversible increases in temperature. If the planet was to remain with levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide deemed safe by climate experts, four-fifths of known fossil fuel reserves could not be used and needed to be left in the ground.

University of Maine students win divestment from coal stocks, United States, 2015

Country
United States
Time period
September, 2012 to January, 2015
Classification
Change
Cluster
Environment
Total points
6 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Andrew Steele 27/09/2015

Divest UMaine formed in December, 2012 at the University of Maine by co-founders Brooke Lyons-Justus, Connor Scott, and Catherine Fletcher. Sparked by a growing disapproval of fossil fuels in the United States along with increased public awareness of global warming, UMaine students, staff, faculty, and alumni formed Divest UMaine and aimed to convince the University of Maine System to freeze assets invested in top 200 fossil fuel companies and to “reinvest in a sustainable, socially responsible alternatives.”

Pitzer College Students Win Fossil Fuel Divestment 2012-2014

Country
United States
Time period
November, 2012 to April, 2014
Classification
Change
Cluster
Environment
Human Rights
Total points
9.5 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Stephen O'Hanlon 07/02/2015

The Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement began in 2011 at Swarthmore College when Swarthmore Mountain Justice founded the first divestment campaign. The movement slowly grew throughout over the next year until 350.org launched their Do the Math nationwide speaking tour, which sparked rapid growth of the Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement around the country. Pitzer and Pomona College students who attended a Do the Math event at UCLA in November 2012 founded the Claremont Colleges Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign later that month.