Eight years after we first wrote to UCT asking for divestment, the university council decided on 12 March to divest.

On Tuesday 11 May, UCT students protested to urge the UCT University Panel on Responsible Investment (UPRI) to make the strongest possible recommendations on fossil fuel divestment.

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.

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

Mar 2017, Cape Town: On Tuesday 28 February, the Convocation of the University of Cape Town overwhelmingly passed a non-binding motion – read the minutes of the meeting (pdf) – for the university to rid itself of all investments in fossil fuels within five years.

Development of a fossil fuel divestment strategy for UCT

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.

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

Climate change is a major threat to human life and wellbeing, especially in Africa – but governments just aren't acting fast enough. If coal, gas and oil companies follow their current business plans, devastating consequences will follow.

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!

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.

The launch event for the UCT fossil fuel divestment campaign will be on 30 July, from 5.30-7pm, in Leslie Social Sciences 1A.

What kind of future do you like to imagine for yourself? One of personal success in a secure, prosperous world?