Guardian launches divestment campaign 350 org

Dear Neville,

Last Monday, The Guardian, one of the world’s most respected and influential newspapers, joined the fight to keep fossil fuels underground by launching its very own divestment campaign in partnership with 350.org. In less than a week, more than 118,000 people have added their support.

In a watershed moment for the growing divestment movement, The Guardian is setting its sights on the fossil fuel investments of two of the largest philanthropic health and development organisations — the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust.  Both are heavily invested in the industry wreaking havoc on our climate — a move that’s completely at odds with their missions to create a better world.

Both foundations are full of good people who recognise the huge threat that climate change poses to the health of millions — but their investments are out of step and actively undermining their own good work. Join our new campaign with The Guardian to end this double standard now:

Call on the Wellcome Trust and Gates Foundation to divest from fossil fuels!

Together, we can convince these leading philanthropic 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 councils across Australia – 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 that 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 makes no sense to help those affected by climate change by using money made from the fossil fuel industry. And it’s increasingly clear that fossil fuels are a bad long term investment too. To avoid the 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 global partners to help us secure some major divestment wins around the world – please do join us.

Charlie

P.S. click here to listen to a fascinating podcast by the Editor of The Guardian on why he decided it was time to use their influence to make an impact on climate change.

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