As new evidence emerges internationally to show the efficacy of fossil fuel divestment for accelerating the global struggle to limit climate breakdown, Fossil Free SA has released its first report surveying SA institutions attempting to divest.

After eight long years of trying to persuade UCT to stop investments in fossil fuels, the University of Cape Town’s Panel on Responsible Investment (UPRI) has now published its recommendation on divestment – which is, that UCT should divest from all fossil fuel investments by 2030!

After years of putting pressure on the University of Cape Town to divest from climate-breaking fossil fuels, the university has at last formally launched its responsible investment panel (the University Panel on Responsible Investment, or UPRI) and approved a Responsible and Sustainable Investment Policy! The UPRI now has a formal website, here.

Letters to the new Council in support of divestment have now been sent by:

• two groups of UCT academics and students, centred on the faculty of Environmental and Geographical Sciences, and Climate Systems Analysis Group (CSAG)

We've been campaigning for UCT to stop investing in climate-breaking fossil fuels for seven years, while hundreds of global institutions have joined the movement. Over the past few months, many people and institutions have written to the new UCT Council in support of divestment.

UCT's Convocation, the body comprising all alumni and academic staff, meets on Thursday 12 December 2019 at Kramer Building Lecture Theatre 1, Middle Campus at 17h00 for 17h30. For the second time, we will be proposing a motion on divestment. 

The aims of the UCT Institutional Reconciliation and Transformation Commission (IRTC) include making ‘recommendations on institutional culture...’

Our team is about to hit Rocking the Daisies, and this is what we'll be asking festival-goers to do for the divestment cause –  here we list five quick ways you can take action right now to push South Africa towards a more safe and prosperous future and away from the deadly fossil fuels – coal, oil and gas – that threaten our climate, our health and our savings.

Our continuing campaign at UCT has moved the university to develop a draft ethical investment policy. If approved, that policy will create the channels for UCT to consider a commitment to divestment.

Development of a fossil fuel divestment strategy for UCT

May Boeve is the new executive director of 350.org, the grass roots global climate movement that three years ago initiated the fast-growing global divestment movement.

There’s been an amazing flood of news on the divestment front over the past couple of months – know that you are part of an extremely fast-growing movement

International Divestment Day is this coming Friday. Join us at UCT (details below). See other actions (comprehensive global list), such as Pretoria University (details below), or Stellenbosch.

On Wednesday 12 November, we had our first of several launches for the expanded Fossil Free South Africa campaign at the Mountain Club in central Cape Town.

We are shooting a video to support fundraising to expand this campaign.

We are happy to relate that the launch was very successful, with over 100 people attending. Students, academic staff and alumni were well-represented at the event and nearly 30 members of the university community signed up for a working group which has since had several meetings.

Please sign our petition, now online, calling on UCT to divest from fossil fuels and invest in sustainable energy!

Following our successful UCT campaign launch, we've formed a Fossil Free UCT working group.

We'll post more details and information over the next few days, but for the meantime, we're very happy to report that our launch event for Fossil Free UCT at the university last night felt like a great success.

It is the world’s wealthiest countries and people who have benefited most from the use of fossil fuels, and have contributed most to global warming.