The Sea Level Rise of Divestment !

Submitted by divineorder on Tue, 12/19/2017 - 5:34pm

20170804_200852-3096x1742.jpg Looking forward to celebrating the day when this collection of drilling platforms in outdoor museum at Galveston Island,Texas, are the only ones around.

Hey there caucus99percenters! How about some happy news for a change?

Climate scientists have been saying that they were probably too conservative in their estimates of the rate and severity of change.

Politicians and business have been slow and far less bold in the actions they have taken. Some, like the Trump Adminstration, have been propagandizing and denying the science in favor of the fossil fuel industry.

However one promising sign is the growth of divestment!

It's complicated of course, and not a done deal:

Cuomo Wants To End Fossil Fuel Investment By Pension Fund

Updated: Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s office clarified in a statement separate from Cuomo’s office that there are no immediate plans to divest from fossil fuels.

But at the same time, DiNapoli backed a proposal to convene a panel that would study the issue.

“While there are no immediate plans to divest our energy holdings, I welcome the opportunity to partner with Governor Cuomo and with the proposed advisory council to identify additional ways to continue our progress in achieving investment returns, while contributing to the emerging low-carbon economy,” DiNapoli said.

“As trustee of the pension fund, I participated in the U.N. conferences in Paris and in Bonn and witnessed the worldwide determination to limit global warming. President Trump has abandoned the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, but in New York #WeAreStillIn.

The state should stop making new investments from its $200 billion public pension fund in fossil fuel companies, Gov. Andrew Cuomo annonuced on Tuesday.

The push, part of the 2018 State of the State agenda, will also lead to the creation of an advisory panel to develop a “de-carbonization roadmap” for new investments that bolster fighting climate change and green technology.

“New York has made incredible strides in securing a clean energy future for this state with our nation-leading clean energy standard, off shore wind development, and aggressive investment in the clean tech economy, yet the Common Fund remains heavily invested in the energy economy of the past. Moving the Common Fund away from fossil fuel investments will protect the retirement savings of New Yorkers,” Cuomo said.

“This proposal lays out a roadmap for New York’s $200 billion Common Fund to take responsible steps to divest from its fossil fuel holdings, leading to a more secure retirement fund for countless New Yorkers while also helping to achieve the state’s clean energy goals.”

Cuomo has had an at-times truculent relationship with DiNapoli’s office and the two have publicly differed over audits and budget concerns, most recently a report on the state’s debt load.

Some good news from across the sea as well!

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Whoa, how 'bout that World Bank action?

Interested in supporting this move? What could we be doing to help with this rise?

The Guardian published a comprehensive guide to the pros and cons of divestment, who's in and who's not, and more:

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Submitted by divineorder on Tue, 12/19/2017 - 6:16pm
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https://gofossilfree.org/

Join the movement

Will you pledge to act for a Fossil Free world, and call on communities, governments and institutions – local and international – to stand with us? Together we must:

Ban all new coal, oil and gas projects and begin phasing out those that are already built.
Divest from and defund fossil fuel projects. Not a penny more should go to fossil fuels.
Commit to a rapid, just transition towards 100% renewable energy for all.

The age of fossil fuels is over. We are ready to create the change.

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Submitted by The Aspie Corner on Tue, 12/19/2017 - 6:32pm
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...to have calls for divestment labelled Economic Terrorism.

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

Submitted by divineorder on Tue, 12/19/2017 - 8:13pm
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@The Aspie Corner Climate Change off the list of security priorities. The clever dumb@ss....

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Submitted by lotlizard on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 1:26am
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@The Aspie Corner  
to which the foreign policy of the West (nowadays, even including Israel) remains joined at the hip.

A drop in revenue from fossil fuels leads to Arab Spring style social upheaval in these societies, politically weakening the West and its Saudi and Gulf clients.

One of the reasons that, even now, the measures taken against global warming in Western countries have yet to rise above window dressing.

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Submitted by divineorder on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 3:35am
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@lotlizard the Guardian link.

I dance whenever I get the chance.

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Submitted by lotlizard on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 5:06am
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@divineorder  
because I have cookies and 3rd-party JavaScript turned off and that makes Twitter go into a browser loop where it continuously tries to reload.

Update:
Ah, it wasn’t in the essay, but I found what I think is the Guardian link you mean in a comment. — Divestment is a good thing, but wouldn’t the Saudis, the Kuwaitis, etc. have enough wealth in their sovereign investment funds to just buy up whatever fossil-fuel assets other actors are dumping? For them, it would just be more “vertical integration,” and potentially at a bargain price.

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Submitted by FuturePassed on Tue, 12/19/2017 - 11:42pm

When a large pension fund divests of energy stocks, the sale is probably large enough to drive the value of the stocks they are selling below their market value. The stocks will of course return to their market value and the entities that bought them during the fire sale are likely to see a windfall.

Public pensions have been on the leading edge of forcing energy companies to be more transparent re the effects of climate change on their market plans.

Divestment doesn't deprive energy companies of capital. These sales are from the old owner to the new one. The energy company is already using the capital its public offerings produced.

So before I join you in dancing merrily through the streets, can you explain to me how divestment will reduce the amount of hydrocarbons burned by a single molecule?

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Submitted by divineorder on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 3:54am
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@FuturePassed @FuturePassed of course.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/23/a-beginners-guide-to...

"This cuts to the heart of the impact of the fossil fuel divestment movement – which is not to bankrupt the industry financially, but to do so morally and politically. As research by Oxford University pointed out, the financial loss of the divestment campaign – the fastest growing in history – will not be felt through the shares sold but through the reputation lost by these companies by being stigmatised.

But the fossil fuel divestment campaign does not only make a moral assertion; it makes an economic one. Shares invested in fossil fuel companies are invested in a business model that is completely incompatible with international agreements on mitigating climate change. If governments abide by them, such investments will become worthless – so pulling them out now makes good financial sense too. "

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Submitted by FuturePassed on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 3:35pm

@divineorder
I still remember the shame felt by BP executives from the leak in the gulf. It was hard to watch.

Regarding the argument that the stocks will become worthless, there are 2 major ways to own stock. One way is to buy an index. You'll own energy stocks in proportion to their weight in the index. If they are overvalued they'll go down. The idea behind index funds is that you take the growth (or loss) of the index minus VERY low management fees. You can find index funds screened for energy and other things. But they are more expensive. (And funds that made the move during the last big decline in the value of energy stocks got clobbered.)

The other way is to use active management. You wouldn't expect an active manager to hold energy stocks while the bottom fell out. Also, if you're confident about the fall of energy stocks and convinced you can time it, you can make a lot of money shorting the stocks, but not if you've divested.

So I'm offering you an opportunity to get rich. Take out a second mortgage and use the proceeds to short energy stocks. Good luck.

If you'd care to play on a search engine for 10 minutes you can find out how many billions of dollars the decision to divest from tobacco stocks cost CalPERS. It was a no brainer. With all the bad publicity about cigarettes and evidence that they were being banned everywhere it had to be a good economic move.

Energy free funds are available to retail investors. People don't seem to be banging down the doors. The NY pension fund belongs to the workers who earned it. It appears that people are much more willing to divest with other people's money than their own.

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Submitted by divineorder on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 7:08pm
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@FuturePassed @lotlizard @FuturePassed @FuturePassed @FuturePassed

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/23/a-beginners-guide-to...

Where can the money divested from fossil fuel stocks be reinvested?

Although the fossil fuel divestment movement doesn’t stipulate where investors should move their money to, some institutions and campaigners have called for a focus on investing in the green economy. When Syracuse University divested from fossil fuels it also committed to investment in a number of clean energy solutions, including solar, biofuels and advance recycling. A number of key foundations who are part of the Divest-Invest coalition have taken this approach, including the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Wallace Global Fund.

Ikea is an example of a multinational that has focused on investment in renewables rather than divestment from fossil fuels – it has invested £1.1bn in renewable energy equipment, and last year met almost half of its global energy demand by generating its own renewable energy power. Ethical investment platforms can help with building a positive investment portfolio, such as Ethex, a non-profit that works with individual investors, financial advisers and social businesses to highlight financial viable alternatives to traditional investments on the stock market.

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Submitted by davidgmillsatty on Thu, 12/21/2017 - 4:53pm

@FuturePassed People have no clue.

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Submitted by mhagle on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 1:17am
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But ultimately individuals must quit using fossil fuels. Wow. How do we do that?

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Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

Submitted by divineorder on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 3:48am
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@mhagle not really enough:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/23/a-beginners-guide-to...

Of course, much of the goods and utilities – from heating to plastics – that we use in daily life are dependent on fossil fuels. But the fossil fuel movement will not bankrupt the industry overnight – and indeed its impact is being felt largely though political means, not financial. Instead it argues that fossil fuels are driving us towards catastrophic levels of climate change and that the world needs to transition to much greater dependence on renewables – and do so much more quickly.

Consumers can of course be pro-active and make changes to their own lifestyles, which is important. Yet it is the producers who have the power to make the difference that will – or will not – see global temperatures breach internationally agreed targets to prevent climate change occurring on a catastrophic and irreversible scale. These producers are currently committed to business models that will take us well beyond that.

@mhagle

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Submitted by Hawkfish on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 8:43am
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@mhagle

I traded in our old minivan for a used leaf about two months back to commute, and because I have a teenage driver who is fascinated by electric motors. Cost of "fuel" here in the hydro-powered PNW is under a dollar a gallon and maintenance costs for an EV are about a tenth that of an ICE. Range is still a problem, but I live close to work so it works out. Still, the lack of a garage or even an indoor parking space near an outlet is annoying.

On the down side, the acceleration - even in Eco mode - is truly terrifying. It's already made me into a more obnoxious driver. I now worry about what the roads will be like when they are more common. Not to mention the people outside the car who underestimate the response time - I nearly flattened a cyclist a few nights back who thought they could run a red when I was turning left. If my wife hadn't screamed, it would have been horrible.

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We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg

Submitted by davidgmillsatty on Thu, 12/21/2017 - 5:14pm

@mhagle @mhagle You make Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors (the kind of nuclear power we should have had and never got because it was no good for making bombs) and then because the electricity produced is so cheap you make synthetic fossil fuels, desalinate water, don't dig large holes in the ground for coal, don't need wells or pipelines, don't waste vast amounts of land on solar panels, or uglify the landscape with wind turbines, don't dam up rivers or streams. And you won't worry about running out of fuel for thousands of years.

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Submitted by snoopydawg on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 1:41am
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The world seems to be waking up finally to the threat of climate change. Divestment is start. I'm seeing a lot of wealthy people selling their coastal homes because they are seeing the seas rise and know it's just a matter of time until their homes are under water.

Just like the BDS against Israel is getting a lot of backlash, will this? Sad
I wish I knew how to get our congress critters to quit this being whores to anyone with a wallet full of cash.

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Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?

Submitted by divineorder on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 3:57am
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@snoopydawg that backlash sd? The Guardian article lists some but wondered what you had.

Are you thinking Trump administration actions?

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 10:08pm
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@divineorder

but I thought that congress is also getting involved with the push back against it.
https://972mag.com/the-israeli-government-is-paying-for-anti-bds-journal...

I haven't been able to find the one that I was referring to, but I'll keep looking. Hillary wasn't happy with the movement either. She said something about it during the election.
There's an article on this page that is about how some people in Israel aren't happy with anyone who makes fun of Israeli soldiers. A young girl attacked a soldier's masculinity and they want her to pay for it. Lieberman wants anyone who resists a soldier to either spend their lives in prison or to be executed.

Israel seems to have become what they went through. It's true that history does repeat itself.

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Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?

Submitted by Deja on Thu, 12/21/2017 - 5:37pm
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@snoopydawg
Some Harvey victims required to vow they wouldn't boycott Israel.

(JTA) — Private citizens who apply for Hurricane Harvey rebuilding funds in Dickinson, Texas no longer have to certify that they will not boycott Israel.

The Dickinson City Council on Tuesday voted to remove a clause from a relief application that had drawn the ire of the American Civil Liberties Union and pro-boycott activists, the Houston Chronicle reported.

The city, located near Houston, put the requirement in the application in order to comply with a new state law, signed in May, that requires all state contractors to certify that they are not participating in boycotts of Israel

Read more: https://forward.com/fast-forward/386225/texas-town-pulls-bds-clause-from...

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Submitted by davidgmillsatty on Thu, 12/21/2017 - 5:04pm

@snoopydawg I grew up in Galveston, Texas. Galveston is an island in the Gulf of Mexico. When I go back, I see no evidence that the sea has risen at all in 60 years. I don't want a beach home because hurricanes can wipe you out. But I would never hesitate to buy one because of the fear of sea level rise.

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