Berlin Is The Latest City To Pull Out Of Fossil Fuels
Berlin’s parliament voted Thursday to pull its money out of coal, gas and oil companies.
The new investment policy, part of the German capital’s goal of completely weaning off carbon by 2050, will force the city’s pension fund — worth $852.8 million, or €750 million — to divest from shares of German oil giants RWE and E.ON, as well as the French behemoth Total.
The move comes a week after Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, vowed to end its investments in fossil fuels companies, making Berlin the seventh major Western city to join a divestment movement that already includes Paris, Copenhagen, Oslo, Seattle, Portland and Melbourne. In September, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio urged the city’s five pension funds — worth a collective $160 billion — to sell their $33 million exposure to coal, by the far the dirtiest fossil fuel.
A handful of smaller U.S. cities have pledged to curtail fossil fuel investments, too.
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The decision, hailed as a victory for environmentalists, comes as the divestment movement gains steam in the wake of the historic climate treaty brokered in Paris in December. About 170 nations signed the accord at the United Nations in New York two months ago. More than 500 institutions — including well-endowed universities, pension funds and religious organizations collectively representing $3.4 trillion — have agreed to stop investing in fossil fuels since the campaign began....