DITCHED: Origins of the Divest/Invest Movement

A decade ago, hopes that world leaders would rally around meaningful policies to combat climate change were at a low. The 2009 United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen had ended with little to show for it and the U.S. failed to pass a major climate bill the following year.

Then in 2011, the first divestment campaigns struck up on college campuses.

In the climate space, divestment is all about shifting capital out of fossil fuels — the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions from human activity worldwide. The concept of divestment isn’t new, but it is gaining momentum. It’s also evolving and expanding into other areas of the financial system.

Meanwhile, there is a separate but related flurry of activity on the invest side of the equation and moving money into socially responsible and environmentally friendly solutions. Divest/Invest.

On this episode of Political Climate — the first in a new miniseries we’re calling DITCHED: fossil fuels, money flows and the greening of finance — host Julia Pyper speaks to Ellen Dorsey, executive director of the Wallace Global Fund, about the origins of the Divest/Invest movement.

The Wallace Global Fund, a private foundation focused on progressive social change, is a founding member of the Divest Invest: Philanthropy, a coalition of more than 170 foundations committed to deploying their investments to address the climate crisis and accelerate the clean energy transition.

Episodes of DITCHED will air Mondays over the next several weeks. Listen and subscribe to Political Climate wherever you get podcasts!

Recommended reading:

Divest Invest Philanthropy: Five Years After Launch

NYT: Rockefellers, Heirs to an Oil Fortune, Will Divest Charity of Fossil Fuels

Guardian: Insurance giant Suncorp to end coverage and finance for oil and gas industry

NYT: BlackRock CEO Larry Fink: Climate Crisis Will Reshape Finance

WSJ: Harvard University Board Gains Backers of Fossil Fuel Divestment 

Tom Steyer and Bill McKibben in GTM: 2030 Is the New 2050: The Oil Industry Begins to Unwind

BIV: Divestment can’t hold back ocean of demand for oil: analysts

Catch all DITCHED episodes in addition to our regular Thursday shows! Listen and subscribe to Political Climate on on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play or wherever you get podcasts!