CNN Business reports that the Rockefeller Foundation will sell its holdings and not make new investments in fossil fuels. The Rockefeller Foundation says it decided to do this because investments in fossil fuels conflict with the Foundation’s mission to lift up humanity.
CNN Business further reports that in addition to divesting from fossil fuels, the Rockefeller Foundation has committed $1 billion to support a global green recovery from the pandemic, including a project in rural India to bring solar power to families cut off from the electric grid. The Rockefeller Foundation is also collaborating with other foundations to retrain workers in fossil fuel dependent areas, and to reinvest in those areas to help bring innovation and growth there.
The president of the Rockefeller Foundation, Rajiv Shah, is quoted by CNN saying “Burning fossil fuels is not necessary to sustain our economy and economic growth over the long run — and it’s detrimental to our climate future.”
This news is significant for two reasons – first, John D Rockefeller, who created the Rockefeller Foundation, made his fortune from Standard Oil. Standard Oil became Esso which become Exxon which is now Exxon-Mobil. Second, the Rockefeller Foundation is the largest U.S. foundation to divest from fossil fuels.
Read the full article from CNN Business here, it has more details and discussion of the impact of this announcement.
12/21/2020
