This archive tracks meaningful progress on oil, natural gas, and divestment — from institutions pulling funds out of fossil fuels to policy shifts that reshape energy finance. Stories here document what’s actually changing, and who’s driving it.
According to the Washington Post, the Danish Parliament voted on December 3 to end offshore gas and oil extraction, which had started in 1972 and made the country the largest producer in the European Union. The Danish government says it is “now putting an end to the fossil fuel era.”
In November, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors voted to ban natural gas in new buildings. On December 2, Oakland’s city council did the same. Now Seattle Mayor Durkan announced a proposal to ban natural gas in new commercial and large multi-family construction for space and most water heating.
After ongoing pressure from environmental groups and Indigenous communities, Bank of America has said it will not finance any oil and gas exploration in the Arctic, making it the last major U.S. financial institution to do so.
The university will divest from conventional energy by the end of the year, build “significant investments” in renewable energy by 2025, divest from remaining fossil fuels by 2035, and become net-zero across its portfolio by 2038.
The declaration was initially signed by the mayors of Berlin, Bristol, Cape Town, Durban, London, Los Angeles, Milan, New Orleans, New York City, Oslo, Pittsburgh, and Vancouver. Together the cities represent more than 36 million residents.
As Charleston approaches Friday’s third anniversary of Hurricane Irma’s extreme surge and flooding that devastated the city, officials today filed a lawsuit in South Carolina state court to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for the costs of adapting to the harmful impacts of climate change.
Exxon Mobil is an iconic blue-chip stock and the longest-tenured member of the index. Exxon’s exclusion represents a big drop from the days where oil companies were kings of the stock market.
The bank, a multinational investment company headquartered in Germany, announced Monday that it will no longer offer financial services to new projects that involve drilling for oil or gas in the Arctic.
The U.K.’s biggest pension fund, the government-backed National Employment Savings Trust (Nest) scheme with nine million members, is to begin divesting from fossil fuels in what climate campaigners have hailed as a landmark move for the industry.
A federal judge has sided with the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and ordered the Dakota Access pipeline shut down until a more extensive environmental review is done. It must be emptied no later than August 5, 2020.
