In the move to combat and end climate change, the British conservation charity Natural Trust announced to stop its fossil fuel investments come the year 2022.
The decision to ditch oil, mine and gas investments is rooted in economic and environmental rationale, as more companies decide to withdraw support to these causes.
About £45 million worth of investments will be stopped from a total of £1 billion equities portfolio.
The Guardian reports that the charity will be relying on renewable sources by 2020. England, Wales and Northern Island will decrease its use of fossil fuels.
National Trust, a body which conserves historic landmarks of England, Northern Ireland, and Wales, has more than five million members and 66,000 volunteers. Although it won’t allow fracking in 248,000 hectares of land, the charity supports Shell and BP at the moment.
As of July this year, the trust investment its funds to Dutch Shell for 8.89% and 4.47% for BP.
According to Director General Hilary McGrady, “We are playing our part by ensuring we reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and at every property we constantly looking at ways to seek out energy efficiency.”
Other wealth funds including the Norwegian parliament is selling it’s country’s assets on coal and oil stocks worth $13 billion to shift to renewable energy projects.
UN Principles for Responsible Investment
Members of the United Nations are required to follow the Principles for Responsible Investment that would protect natural resources. Last year, 185 notices were made by the UN to countries who don’t demonstrate the maximum standard for this principle.
Delisting is possible and occurs when companies from different countries failed to report the annual PRI audit and continue to support environmental-hazard investments.
In 2017, 79 companies were ousted from the UN signatory list.
