Updates
Two days to go before our campaign launch at UCT on 30 July (17h30, Leslie Social Sciences 1A). Samanthan Bailey of 350.org and Mark New, UCT's pro-vice chancellor overseeing the African Climate Development Initiative, have joined our line-up of speakers. (Mark New has not actually endorsed the campaign, but we are glad that he has joined the conversation.)
The Cape Times on Friday 25 July (p. 6, briefs) carried the story that Archbishop Desmond Tutu has endorsed our call for UCT to divest.
Investing in fossil fuels is morally wrong – but may also be incredibly poor judgement, according to a recent landmark article in the conservative UK Daily Telegraph, long the home of climate deniers and cheerleaders for fossil fuels: "The epicentre of irrational behaviour across global markets has moved to the fossil fuel complex of oil, gas and coal. This is where investors have been throwing the most good money after bad. They are likely to be left holding a clutch of worthless projects as renewable technology sweeps in below radar, and the Washington-Beijing axis embraces a greener agenda."
Alex Lenferna, a South African Fulbright scholar at the University of Washington, has shared his ongoing PhD research into divestment with us.
Stephanie Giamporcaro of the UCT Graduate School of Business has published an article in the UCT publication Monday Monthly, asking: 'Can investors make responsible investing mainstream?' and including a discussion of the divestment movement. Pdf version here: OPedGiamporcaro
