Leonardo DiCaprio joins coalition for worldwide fossil fuel divestment movement to tackle climate change

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio has joined a coalition of 400 institutions to fight climate change by pulling out all of their investments from fossil fuel companies. The growing worldwide fossil fuel divestment movement has already attracted a consortium of investors, representing a remarkable $2.6 trillion of fossil fuel investments.

The divestment movement was founded by universities and churches, already active in 43 countries. Major pension funds and insurance companies have joined the campaign, aiming to prevent the impact of climate change on both the community and their investment portfolios.

If the divestment turns successful, most of the remaining coal, oil and gas will be unburned, pushing fossil fuel companies to crash in value. In fact, scientists suggest that to attain the global climate target of limiting temperature increase to 2°C, most of the existing fossil fuel reserves must be kept unburned in the ground.

To date, there have been coal companies facing share prices crash as stricter policies have been implemented to limit carbon emissions. The campaign is supported by the UN’s climate chief, who will lead negotiations for a global climate deal in Paris in December, the Guardian reported.

On Tuesday, DiCaprio has stated his participation to divest his wealth and own charitable foundation’s funds and avoid 200 fossil fuel companies on the list of the Divest Invest campaign. The actor said that climate change has severely caused impacts to the health of the planet and all of its inhabitants.

“We must transition to a clean energy economy that does not rely on fossil fuels. Now is the time to divest and invest to let our world leaders know that we, as individuals and institutions, are taking action to address climate change, and we expect them to do their part in Paris,” he said in a statement.

Members of the coalition for the movement, which is growing quickly around the world, aim primarily to get rid of the legitimacy of fossil fuel companies. Institutions committed to fossil fuel divestment have grown from 181 in September 2014 to 436 to date, the Arabella Advisors reported.

Over 646 million individuals around the world are represented by the committing institutions to the divestment movement, including local government, health and education bodies. The World Bank, with analysts at Citigroup, HSBC, Mercer and the Carbon Tracker Initiative, has already warned that fossil fuel investments may face financial risk due to the climate action.

Currently, the Bank of England and G20 are analysing the risk that may affect the global economy. A total of 95 percent of assets to the divestment is represented by pension funds and private companies.

There has been also a rapid increase on the universities committing to the divestment. The commitments have tripled since 2014.

Bill McKibben, of the 350.org climate campaign that initiated the movement, said that a 50-fold increase of the commitments shows that the civil society “is finally fully on the move in the battle against climate change.” He added that “in the hottest year we’ve ever measured on our planet, big institutions and organisations are finally stepping up to say: we won’t participate in this charade, and we will stand up to the fossil fuel companies that are causing it.”

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