Monthly Archives: June 2015

Is Canada’s government trying to kill off the wild salmon?

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In British Columbia, salmon are sacred. For centuries, they have nourished First Nations and settlers alike, and continue to sustain virtually all of the wildlife we cherish in BC: orcas, eagles, bears, seals and sea lions, wolves and even our forests. Wild salmon make life possible on the West Coast.

So why are our federal and provincial governments trying to kill them?

I do not speak of simple neglect. I mean actively working towards the destruction of wild salmon. At first, the idea might sound far-fetched.

But remember, we live in the age of climate change denial, Bill C-51 and robo-calls, where diabolical government plots have become an everyday fact of life.

Wild salmon – the keystone species of an ocean-to-mountain ecosystem

Consider then, that salmon habitat extends all the way from the open ocean, tracing our coastlines and estuaries, into our many rivers and branching out into a network of spawning grounds that reaches almost every corner of the province.

That means that virtually every new resource development project – be it a tar sands pipeline, LNG port, fracking well, mine or coal port – impinges on wild salmon habitat.

So to resource extraction industries, wild salmon are nothing but an obstacle: a nuisance that cause increased costs and project delays, through environmental assessments and the like. And unfortunately for wild salmon, removing obstacles for the resource industry is what our federal and provincial governments do best these days.

But they aren’t the only ones with something to gain from the disappearance of wild salmon. The Norwegian and Japanese salmon farming corporations operating along our coast would shed few tears over the elimination of their only competition (a healthier one, at that).

And it could hardly have escaped government notice that open-pen salmon feedlots represent one of the gravest threats to the health of our wild salmon populations. Is it any wonder then that ocean-based salmon farming is the darling industry of our Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO)?

A 17-pronged attack on wild salmon

Here’s just some of the ways Canadian and BC governments are orchestrating the demise of our wild salmon:

  1. In 2012, Stephen Harper removed environmental protections from 99% of our lakes and rivers. Among them, the Upper Fraser and Kitimat rivers, both critical salmon and steelhead habitat that just happen to lie in the path of the Northern Gateway pipeline.
  2. Three years later, 74 of the 75 recommendations made by the 18-month, $26 million Cohen Commission Inquiry into the state of the Fraser River Sockeye have yet to be acted upon. In many cases, as noted below, the provincial and federal governments have actually done the opposite of the recommendations.
  3. In 2012, Harper eliminated the requirement for environmental assessments for all but major resource projects. This includes run-of-the-river hydro projects, which can divert up to 95 per cent of a river’s flow into a tunnel or pipeline and can critically impact salmon.
  4. In every country where ocean-based, open-pen salmon farming has taken hold, wild salmon populations have collapsed. While the expansion of the aquaculture industry is a key priority of the DFO, protection of wild fish isn’t even mentioned in their mission statement.
  5. Although the Cohen Commission recommended a moratorium on new salmon feedlot tenures along salmon migration routes, the B.C. government is considering at least 10 new or expanded licenses, almost all directly in our wild salmons’ pathways to the open sea, exposing them to the feedlots’ disease and parasites.
  6. Instead of the usual year-long licenses, the Harper government is now offering salmon feedlot operators extended nine year licenses that will leave our salmon at risk from foreign corporations long after the next federal election.
  7. For decades, the Federal government has let foreign salmon farming corporations knowingly place salmon infected with viruses linked to deadly salmon diseases, in pens situated along the migration routes of wild salmon.
  8. At the same time they permit salmon farmers to introduce new salmon viruses into our coastal waters, the DFO has muzzled its scientists when it comes to talking about wild salmon diseases.
  9. When biologist Alexandra Morton and colleagues found the deadly ISA virus in wild B.C. salmon, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) confiscated her samples and publicly declared they were unable to repeat her results. A year later, they privately admitted they didn’t actually test the samples.
  10. The CFIA took a further step to prevent the detection of salmon viruses by stripping the certification of the laboratory that detected the ISA virus – Canada’s only certified laboratory.
  11. The B.C. government recently permitted the use of hydrogen peroxide baths in salmon farms to try to control sea lice. Yet there is no research on what this chemical will do to the tiny migrating wild salmon forced to pass the farms.
  12. In 2014, the Harper government blocked an inquiry by the environmental dispute body established under NAFTA to determine if it had failed to protect wild salmon from the dangers of salmon farms as required in Canada’s Fisheries Act.
  13. The federal government is now proposing a revolutionary change to the Fisheries Act that will grant foreign corporations like Mitsubishi the unprecedented privilege of owning fish that live in our ocean. This is a serious blow to the law of the commons, where the fish in our oceans are a resource shared among all the citizens of Canada.
  14. The proposed changes to aquaculture regulations will also grant salmon feedlot operators the authority to kill wild salmon to ‘protect’ their farmed fish from disease.
  15. Still other changes to the aquaculture regulations will allow salmon feedlot operators to release “deleterious substances” – antibiotics, pesticides, insecticides and other drugs directly into our coastal waters, directly in the path of migrating wild salmon.
  16. The primary industry putting our wild salmon at risk receives massive government subsidies. Salmon feedlot licenses, which cost about $1 million in Norway, are free in Canada. But diseased fish aren’t – the federal government buys them all from feedlot operators for up to $30 each. Taxpayers paid close to $50 million for dead, diseased farmed salmon in one year alone.
  17. At the same time they are ramming tarsands pipelines down our throats, the federal government is closing coast guard bases that act as first responders when trouble hits. Witness the bunker fuel spill in Vancouver last month or our Coast Guard’s inability to save a stranded vessel off Haida Gwaii in January.

We cannot sit idly by while our most important, iconic species is sacrificed for the sake of corporate greed. So it is time for people of the Pacific Northwest to stand up for our wild salmon.

 

 

Jeff Matthews is Sea Shepherd Vancouver Chapter Coordinator.

This article was originally published by Sea Shepherd.

Action in Canada:

Tell BC Senator Nancy Greene Raine, a member of the Senate committee reviewing aquaculture regulations that you oppose the proposed changes to the aquaculture act and want salmon farms off our coast. Sign the petition to stop salmon feedlot expansion in BC. Join the farmed salmon boycott. And support the work and research of Alexandra Morton, without whose tireless efforts, we may already have lost our most precious resource of all.

Action in the US:

Boycott farmed salmon. Support the restoration of salmon habitat in your community. Learn about and support dam removal. And don’t let Oregon blame sea lions for the decline of Columbia River salmon.

 

 






Is Canada’s government trying to kill off the wild salmon?

Leave a reply




In British Columbia, salmon are sacred. For centuries, they have nourished First Nations and settlers alike, and continue to sustain virtually all of the wildlife we cherish in BC: orcas, eagles, bears, seals and sea lions, wolves and even our forests. Wild salmon make life possible on the West Coast.

So why are our federal and provincial governments trying to kill them?

I do not speak of simple neglect. I mean actively working towards the destruction of wild salmon. At first, the idea might sound far-fetched.

But remember, we live in the age of climate change denial, Bill C-51 and robo-calls, where diabolical government plots have become an everyday fact of life.

Wild salmon – the keystone species of an ocean-to-mountain ecosystem

Consider then, that salmon habitat extends all the way from the open ocean, tracing our coastlines and estuaries, into our many rivers and branching out into a network of spawning grounds that reaches almost every corner of the province.

That means that virtually every new resource development project – be it a tar sands pipeline, LNG port, fracking well, mine or coal port – impinges on wild salmon habitat.

So to resource extraction industries, wild salmon are nothing but an obstacle: a nuisance that cause increased costs and project delays, through environmental assessments and the like. And unfortunately for wild salmon, removing obstacles for the resource industry is what our federal and provincial governments do best these days.

But they aren’t the only ones with something to gain from the disappearance of wild salmon. The Norwegian and Japanese salmon farming corporations operating along our coast would shed few tears over the elimination of their only competition (a healthier one, at that).

And it could hardly have escaped government notice that open-pen salmon feedlots represent one of the gravest threats to the health of our wild salmon populations. Is it any wonder then that ocean-based salmon farming is the darling industry of our Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO)?

A 17-pronged attack on wild salmon

Here’s just some of the ways Canadian and BC governments are orchestrating the demise of our wild salmon:

  1. In 2012, Stephen Harper removed environmental protections from 99% of our lakes and rivers. Among them, the Upper Fraser and Kitimat rivers, both critical salmon and steelhead habitat that just happen to lie in the path of the Northern Gateway pipeline.
  2. Three years later, 74 of the 75 recommendations made by the 18-month, $26 million Cohen Commission Inquiry into the state of the Fraser River Sockeye have yet to be acted upon. In many cases, as noted below, the provincial and federal governments have actually done the opposite of the recommendations.
  3. In 2012, Harper eliminated the requirement for environmental assessments for all but major resource projects. This includes run-of-the-river hydro projects, which can divert up to 95 per cent of a river’s flow into a tunnel or pipeline and can critically impact salmon.
  4. In every country where ocean-based, open-pen salmon farming has taken hold, wild salmon populations have collapsed. While the expansion of the aquaculture industry is a key priority of the DFO, protection of wild fish isn’t even mentioned in their mission statement.
  5. Although the Cohen Commission recommended a moratorium on new salmon feedlot tenures along salmon migration routes, the B.C. government is considering at least 10 new or expanded licenses, almost all directly in our wild salmons’ pathways to the open sea, exposing them to the feedlots’ disease and parasites.
  6. Instead of the usual year-long licenses, the Harper government is now offering salmon feedlot operators extended nine year licenses that will leave our salmon at risk from foreign corporations long after the next federal election.
  7. For decades, the Federal government has let foreign salmon farming corporations knowingly place salmon infected with viruses linked to deadly salmon diseases, in pens situated along the migration routes of wild salmon.
  8. At the same time they permit salmon farmers to introduce new salmon viruses into our coastal waters, the DFO has muzzled its scientists when it comes to talking about wild salmon diseases.
  9. When biologist Alexandra Morton and colleagues found the deadly ISA virus in wild B.C. salmon, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) confiscated her samples and publicly declared they were unable to repeat her results. A year later, they privately admitted they didn’t actually test the samples.
  10. The CFIA took a further step to prevent the detection of salmon viruses by stripping the certification of the laboratory that detected the ISA virus – Canada’s only certified laboratory.
  11. The B.C. government recently permitted the use of hydrogen peroxide baths in salmon farms to try to control sea lice. Yet there is no research on what this chemical will do to the tiny migrating wild salmon forced to pass the farms.
  12. In 2014, the Harper government blocked an inquiry by the environmental dispute body established under NAFTA to determine if it had failed to protect wild salmon from the dangers of salmon farms as required in Canada’s Fisheries Act.
  13. The federal government is now proposing a revolutionary change to the Fisheries Act that will grant foreign corporations like Mitsubishi the unprecedented privilege of owning fish that live in our ocean. This is a serious blow to the law of the commons, where the fish in our oceans are a resource shared among all the citizens of Canada.
  14. The proposed changes to aquaculture regulations will also grant salmon feedlot operators the authority to kill wild salmon to ‘protect’ their farmed fish from disease.
  15. Still other changes to the aquaculture regulations will allow salmon feedlot operators to release “deleterious substances” – antibiotics, pesticides, insecticides and other drugs directly into our coastal waters, directly in the path of migrating wild salmon.
  16. The primary industry putting our wild salmon at risk receives massive government subsidies. Salmon feedlot licenses, which cost about $1 million in Norway, are free in Canada. But diseased fish aren’t – the federal government buys them all from feedlot operators for up to $30 each. Taxpayers paid close to $50 million for dead, diseased farmed salmon in one year alone.
  17. At the same time they are ramming tarsands pipelines down our throats, the federal government is closing coast guard bases that act as first responders when trouble hits. Witness the bunker fuel spill in Vancouver last month or our Coast Guard’s inability to save a stranded vessel off Haida Gwaii in January.

We cannot sit idly by while our most important, iconic species is sacrificed for the sake of corporate greed. So it is time for people of the Pacific Northwest to stand up for our wild salmon.

 

 

Jeff Matthews is Sea Shepherd Vancouver Chapter Coordinator.

This article was originally published by Sea Shepherd.

Action in Canada:

Tell BC Senator Nancy Greene Raine, a member of the Senate committee reviewing aquaculture regulations that you oppose the proposed changes to the aquaculture act and want salmon farms off our coast. Sign the petition to stop salmon feedlot expansion in BC. Join the farmed salmon boycott. And support the work and research of Alexandra Morton, without whose tireless efforts, we may already have lost our most precious resource of all.

Action in the US:

Boycott farmed salmon. Support the restoration of salmon habitat in your community. Learn about and support dam removal. And don’t let Oregon blame sea lions for the decline of Columbia River salmon.

 

 






Is Canada’s government trying to kill off the wild salmon?

Leave a reply




In British Columbia, salmon are sacred. For centuries, they have nourished First Nations and settlers alike, and continue to sustain virtually all of the wildlife we cherish in BC: orcas, eagles, bears, seals and sea lions, wolves and even our forests. Wild salmon make life possible on the West Coast.

So why are our federal and provincial governments trying to kill them?

I do not speak of simple neglect. I mean actively working towards the destruction of wild salmon. At first, the idea might sound far-fetched.

But remember, we live in the age of climate change denial, Bill C-51 and robo-calls, where diabolical government plots have become an everyday fact of life.

Wild salmon – the keystone species of an ocean-to-mountain ecosystem

Consider then, that salmon habitat extends all the way from the open ocean, tracing our coastlines and estuaries, into our many rivers and branching out into a network of spawning grounds that reaches almost every corner of the province.

That means that virtually every new resource development project – be it a tar sands pipeline, LNG port, fracking well, mine or coal port – impinges on wild salmon habitat.

So to resource extraction industries, wild salmon are nothing but an obstacle: a nuisance that cause increased costs and project delays, through environmental assessments and the like. And unfortunately for wild salmon, removing obstacles for the resource industry is what our federal and provincial governments do best these days.

But they aren’t the only ones with something to gain from the disappearance of wild salmon. The Norwegian and Japanese salmon farming corporations operating along our coast would shed few tears over the elimination of their only competition (a healthier one, at that).

And it could hardly have escaped government notice that open-pen salmon feedlots represent one of the gravest threats to the health of our wild salmon populations. Is it any wonder then that ocean-based salmon farming is the darling industry of our Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO)?

A 17-pronged attack on wild salmon

Here’s just some of the ways Canadian and BC governments are orchestrating the demise of our wild salmon:

  1. In 2012, Stephen Harper removed environmental protections from 99% of our lakes and rivers. Among them, the Upper Fraser and Kitimat rivers, both critical salmon and steelhead habitat that just happen to lie in the path of the Northern Gateway pipeline.
  2. Three years later, 74 of the 75 recommendations made by the 18-month, $26 million Cohen Commission Inquiry into the state of the Fraser River Sockeye have yet to be acted upon. In many cases, as noted below, the provincial and federal governments have actually done the opposite of the recommendations.
  3. In 2012, Harper eliminated the requirement for environmental assessments for all but major resource projects. This includes run-of-the-river hydro projects, which can divert up to 95 per cent of a river’s flow into a tunnel or pipeline and can critically impact salmon.
  4. In every country where ocean-based, open-pen salmon farming has taken hold, wild salmon populations have collapsed. While the expansion of the aquaculture industry is a key priority of the DFO, protection of wild fish isn’t even mentioned in their mission statement.
  5. Although the Cohen Commission recommended a moratorium on new salmon feedlot tenures along salmon migration routes, the B.C. government is considering at least 10 new or expanded licenses, almost all directly in our wild salmons’ pathways to the open sea, exposing them to the feedlots’ disease and parasites.
  6. Instead of the usual year-long licenses, the Harper government is now offering salmon feedlot operators extended nine year licenses that will leave our salmon at risk from foreign corporations long after the next federal election.
  7. For decades, the Federal government has let foreign salmon farming corporations knowingly place salmon infected with viruses linked to deadly salmon diseases, in pens situated along the migration routes of wild salmon.
  8. At the same time they permit salmon farmers to introduce new salmon viruses into our coastal waters, the DFO has muzzled its scientists when it comes to talking about wild salmon diseases.
  9. When biologist Alexandra Morton and colleagues found the deadly ISA virus in wild B.C. salmon, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) confiscated her samples and publicly declared they were unable to repeat her results. A year later, they privately admitted they didn’t actually test the samples.
  10. The CFIA took a further step to prevent the detection of salmon viruses by stripping the certification of the laboratory that detected the ISA virus – Canada’s only certified laboratory.
  11. The B.C. government recently permitted the use of hydrogen peroxide baths in salmon farms to try to control sea lice. Yet there is no research on what this chemical will do to the tiny migrating wild salmon forced to pass the farms.
  12. In 2014, the Harper government blocked an inquiry by the environmental dispute body established under NAFTA to determine if it had failed to protect wild salmon from the dangers of salmon farms as required in Canada’s Fisheries Act.
  13. The federal government is now proposing a revolutionary change to the Fisheries Act that will grant foreign corporations like Mitsubishi the unprecedented privilege of owning fish that live in our ocean. This is a serious blow to the law of the commons, where the fish in our oceans are a resource shared among all the citizens of Canada.
  14. The proposed changes to aquaculture regulations will also grant salmon feedlot operators the authority to kill wild salmon to ‘protect’ their farmed fish from disease.
  15. Still other changes to the aquaculture regulations will allow salmon feedlot operators to release “deleterious substances” – antibiotics, pesticides, insecticides and other drugs directly into our coastal waters, directly in the path of migrating wild salmon.
  16. The primary industry putting our wild salmon at risk receives massive government subsidies. Salmon feedlot licenses, which cost about $1 million in Norway, are free in Canada. But diseased fish aren’t – the federal government buys them all from feedlot operators for up to $30 each. Taxpayers paid close to $50 million for dead, diseased farmed salmon in one year alone.
  17. At the same time they are ramming tarsands pipelines down our throats, the federal government is closing coast guard bases that act as first responders when trouble hits. Witness the bunker fuel spill in Vancouver last month or our Coast Guard’s inability to save a stranded vessel off Haida Gwaii in January.

We cannot sit idly by while our most important, iconic species is sacrificed for the sake of corporate greed. So it is time for people of the Pacific Northwest to stand up for our wild salmon.

 

 

Jeff Matthews is Sea Shepherd Vancouver Chapter Coordinator.

This article was originally published by Sea Shepherd.

Action in Canada:

Tell BC Senator Nancy Greene Raine, a member of the Senate committee reviewing aquaculture regulations that you oppose the proposed changes to the aquaculture act and want salmon farms off our coast. Sign the petition to stop salmon feedlot expansion in BC. Join the farmed salmon boycott. And support the work and research of Alexandra Morton, without whose tireless efforts, we may already have lost our most precious resource of all.

Action in the US:

Boycott farmed salmon. Support the restoration of salmon habitat in your community. Learn about and support dam removal. And don’t let Oregon blame sea lions for the decline of Columbia River salmon.

 

 






43%! New record for UK renewable power

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Renewable energy provided 13.4 GW, or 43%, of British electricity at 2pm on Saturday. I believe this is a new record.

A windy day, combined with strong sun and low weekend levels of demand meant that fossil fuels delivered only 26% of total supply in the early afternoon. The remainder was delivered by nuclear, imports and power from the UK’s storage reservoirs in North Wales and Scotland.

The glut of wind and solar power almost pushed coal-fired stations out of the picture. At 3pm, coal was providing only 7% of British electricity, a total of just over 2.3 GW. I think this is also an unprecedented low and something to be actively celebrated.

I don’t have the precise information but I believe only one coal-fired power station – Drax – was operating. If the country chooses to invest in wind, solar and other renewables, it can push coal-fired generation out of the generation mix completely.

An inspiring moment!

Summer days that are both windy and sunny are rare. In no sense were the daylight hours of Saturday 6th June 2015 typical. But it did provide an inspiring moment that showed how renewables could eventually replace fossil fuels.

At the moment I don’t think anybody monitors the share of renewables in UK generation. In Germany, this information is provided every hour via the EEX power trading exchange and it would be sensible to do the same thing here.

The chart (right) shows the makeup of supply from 9am to 9pm on Saturday. Because of the really strange way that the UK monitors electricity output, that’s something I have had to estimate based on these assumptions:

1. The UK system doesn’t measure solar PV as a separate source of electricity. It ‘sees’ PV as a reduction in demand for the conventional power stations and big wind farms. So I have added my estimate of PV output (generated at solarforecast.co.uk) to the measured UK figure.

2. Similarly, I have added National Grid’s estimate of output from small scale wind farms that also aren’t directly measured. This might well be an inaccurate figure.

3. I have assumed that Drax’s biomass units are the source of output described as ‘Other’ by National Grid. The figure is about 1 GW for most of Saturday, roughly equivalent to the capacity of the units at Drax.

4. Renewables include grid connected wind, embedded wind, PV of all sizes including domestic, biomass principally at Drax’s 2 biomass units, and non-pumped storage hydro.

What share of total electricity output was provided by renewables during the day? My hourly estimate is in the graph, (above right).

 

 

Chris Goodall is an expert on energy, environment and climate change and valued contributor to The Ecologist. He blogs at Carbon Commentary.

This article was originally published on Carbon Commentary.

 






Norway’s $1 trillion wealth fund to divest from coal

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Today, on World Environment Day, Norway’s Parliament unanimously approved a decision to divest the country’s sovereign wealth fund from companies with more than 30% of their income from coal extraction or coal power.

According to calculations from campaign group urgewald, the divestment decision will affect investments in 150 companies worth approximately $13.3 billion (NOK 106.2 billion) of the fund’s current investments, which are worth in excess of $900 billion.

“With Norway’s decision, coal divestment has gone mainstream highlighting both the moral imperative and financial case for divestment”, said Nicolo Wojewoda, lead campaigner for 350.org‘s European team.

“Other institutions are left with no excuse to not follow suit. Coal is on its last leg; with king coal falling from its throne, we are all more inspired to go after big oil and gas.”

A coalition of civil society organizations including Greenpeace, WWF, Future in Our Hands, urgewald and 350.org hailed the decision as a critical first step out of fossil fuels by one of the world’s most oil-dependent economies, adding:

“Norway’s decision to divest its sovereign wealth fund from coal adds momentum to the growing global movement for climate action. This raises the bar for politicians to make further commitments – globally, as well as in Norway itself.”

Now, invest 5% in renewables!

They also promised to continue campaigning for the fund’s full divestment from all fossil fuels as well as increased investments in renewable energy: “Divestment from coal must be the first step for Norway, not the last. We will campaign for the fund to invest at least 5% of its value in renewables, particularly in emerging economies, and for full divestment from all fossil fuels.

“For Norway itself, our goal is a just transition out of oil and gas and into the green jobs of the future. We are rapidly approaching the time when no country can rely on fossil fuels for its economy or energy safety.”

The fund’s Ethical Council and its manager, the Bank of Norway, will now be tasked with developing regulations to implement the divestment decision, and the group of NGOs will be keeping close track of its actions and the precise wording it employs.

“These regulations will be critical to ensuring rapid, transparent and comprehensive implementation of this historic decision. Other investors, and civil society, will be watching closely to see if Norway can match its bold decision with equally bold and decisive action”, say the civil society organizations.

Pressure builds on other funds

A number of funds are in the firing line for their failure to divest from fossil fuels, notably the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Foundation which are targetted by the Guardian‘s ‘keep it in the ground‘ campaign.

350.org is now moving its focus to ABP, Holland’s biggest pension fund, which has 2.8 million beneficiaries and has investments worth some €344 billion: “With your help, we believe we can nudge the world’s third largest pension fund, the ABP, to divest from all fossil fuels.

“Just last week, their Chair Corien Wortmann got a tough grilling from a popular Dutch news anchor. She was asked repeatedly to respond to the growing @ABPfossielvrij campaign calling on them to divest from fossil fuels.”

On Monday this week London’s City Hall was targetted in a protest by Reclaim the Power to denounce the London Mayor Boris Johnson’s dismissal of the call from Divest London and the London Assembly call to divest their £4.8bn pension fund from oil, coal and gas, and his outspoken support for fracking.

Taking the Mayor at his word that “no stone should be left unfracked” they erected a 30ft tripod masquerading as a fracking drill directly outside City Hall and superglued themselves to the front of the building (see photo) while the noise of a fracking drill was relayed through loudspeakers.

In another victory for divestment campaigners, Oxford University voted last month to divest its £1.7 billion endowment fund from all direct holdings in coal and oil sands.

 

 

Further reading: Analysis of the direct consequences of the divestment decision for the holdings of the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund.

 






Norway’s $1 trillion wealth fund to divest from coal

Leave a reply




Today, on World Environment Day, Norway’s Parliament unanimously approved a decision to divest the country’s sovereign wealth fund from companies with more than 30% of their income from coal extraction or coal power.

According to calculations from campaign group urgewald, the divestment decision will affect investments in 150 companies worth approximately $13.3 billion (NOK 106.2 billion) of the fund’s current investments, which are worth in excess of $900 billion.

“With Norway’s decision, coal divestment has gone mainstream highlighting both the moral imperative and financial case for divestment”, said Nicolo Wojewoda, lead campaigner for 350.org‘s European team.

“Other institutions are left with no excuse to not follow suit. Coal is on its last leg; with king coal falling from its throne, we are all more inspired to go after big oil and gas.”

A coalition of civil society organizations including Greenpeace, WWF, Future in Our Hands, urgewald and 350.org hailed the decision as a critical first step out of fossil fuels by one of the world’s most oil-dependent economies, adding:

“Norway’s decision to divest its sovereign wealth fund from coal adds momentum to the growing global movement for climate action. This raises the bar for politicians to make further commitments – globally, as well as in Norway itself.”

Now, invest 5% in renewables!

They also promised to continue campaigning for the fund’s full divestment from all fossil fuels as well as increased investments in renewable energy: “Divestment from coal must be the first step for Norway, not the last. We will campaign for the fund to invest at least 5% of its value in renewables, particularly in emerging economies, and for full divestment from all fossil fuels.

“For Norway itself, our goal is a just transition out of oil and gas and into the green jobs of the future. We are rapidly approaching the time when no country can rely on fossil fuels for its economy or energy safety.”

The fund’s Ethical Council and its manager, the Bank of Norway, will now be tasked with developing regulations to implement the divestment decision, and the group of NGOs will be keeping close track of its actions and the precise wording it employs.

“These regulations will be critical to ensuring rapid, transparent and comprehensive implementation of this historic decision. Other investors, and civil society, will be watching closely to see if Norway can match its bold decision with equally bold and decisive action”, say the civil society organizations.

Pressure builds on other funds

A number of funds are in the firing line for their failure to divest from fossil fuels, notably the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Foundation which are targetted by the Guardian‘s ‘keep it in the ground‘ campaign.

350.org is now moving its focus to ABP, Holland’s biggest pension fund, which has 2.8 million beneficiaries and has investments worth some €344 billion: “With your help, we believe we can nudge the world’s third largest pension fund, the ABP, to divest from all fossil fuels.

“Just last week, their Chair Corien Wortmann got a tough grilling from a popular Dutch news anchor. She was asked repeatedly to respond to the growing @ABPfossielvrij campaign calling on them to divest from fossil fuels.”

On Monday this week London’s City Hall was targetted in a protest by Reclaim the Power to denounce the London Mayor Boris Johnson’s dismissal of the call from Divest London and the London Assembly call to divest their £4.8bn pension fund from oil, coal and gas, and his outspoken support for fracking.

Taking the Mayor at his word that “no stone should be left unfracked” they erected a 30ft tripod masquerading as a fracking drill directly outside City Hall and superglued themselves to the front of the building (see photo) while the noise of a fracking drill was relayed through loudspeakers.

In another victory for divestment campaigners, Oxford University voted last month to divest its £1.7 billion endowment fund from all direct holdings in coal and oil sands.

 

 

Further reading: Analysis of the direct consequences of the divestment decision for the holdings of the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund.

 






Norway’s $1 trillion wealth fund to divest from coal

Leave a reply




Today, on World Environment Day, Norway’s Parliament unanimously approved a decision to divest the country’s sovereign wealth fund from companies with more than 30% of their income from coal extraction or coal power.

According to calculations from campaign group urgewald, the divestment decision will affect investments in 150 companies worth approximately $13.3 billion (NOK 106.2 billion) of the fund’s current investments, which are worth in excess of $900 billion.

“With Norway’s decision, coal divestment has gone mainstream highlighting both the moral imperative and financial case for divestment”, said Nicolo Wojewoda, lead campaigner for 350.org‘s European team.

“Other institutions are left with no excuse to not follow suit. Coal is on its last leg; with king coal falling from its throne, we are all more inspired to go after big oil and gas.”

A coalition of civil society organizations including Greenpeace, WWF, Future in Our Hands, urgewald and 350.org hailed the decision as a critical first step out of fossil fuels by one of the world’s most oil-dependent economies, adding:

“Norway’s decision to divest its sovereign wealth fund from coal adds momentum to the growing global movement for climate action. This raises the bar for politicians to make further commitments – globally, as well as in Norway itself.”

Now, invest 5% in renewables!

They also promised to continue campaigning for the fund’s full divestment from all fossil fuels as well as increased investments in renewable energy: “Divestment from coal must be the first step for Norway, not the last. We will campaign for the fund to invest at least 5% of its value in renewables, particularly in emerging economies, and for full divestment from all fossil fuels.

“For Norway itself, our goal is a just transition out of oil and gas and into the green jobs of the future. We are rapidly approaching the time when no country can rely on fossil fuels for its economy or energy safety.”

The fund’s Ethical Council and its manager, the Bank of Norway, will now be tasked with developing regulations to implement the divestment decision, and the group of NGOs will be keeping close track of its actions and the precise wording it employs.

“These regulations will be critical to ensuring rapid, transparent and comprehensive implementation of this historic decision. Other investors, and civil society, will be watching closely to see if Norway can match its bold decision with equally bold and decisive action”, say the civil society organizations.

Pressure builds on other funds

A number of funds are in the firing line for their failure to divest from fossil fuels, notably the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Foundation which are targetted by the Guardian‘s ‘keep it in the ground‘ campaign.

350.org is now moving its focus to ABP, Holland’s biggest pension fund, which has 2.8 million beneficiaries and has investments worth some €344 billion: “With your help, we believe we can nudge the world’s third largest pension fund, the ABP, to divest from all fossil fuels.

“Just last week, their Chair Corien Wortmann got a tough grilling from a popular Dutch news anchor. She was asked repeatedly to respond to the growing @ABPfossielvrij campaign calling on them to divest from fossil fuels.”

On Monday this week London’s City Hall was targetted in a protest by Reclaim the Power to denounce the London Mayor Boris Johnson’s dismissal of the call from Divest London and the London Assembly call to divest their £4.8bn pension fund from oil, coal and gas, and his outspoken support for fracking.

Taking the Mayor at his word that “no stone should be left unfracked” they erected a 30ft tripod masquerading as a fracking drill directly outside City Hall and superglued themselves to the front of the building (see photo) while the noise of a fracking drill was relayed through loudspeakers.

In another victory for divestment campaigners, Oxford University voted last month to divest its £1.7 billion endowment fund from all direct holdings in coal and oil sands.

 

 

Further reading: Analysis of the direct consequences of the divestment decision for the holdings of the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund.

 






Norway’s $1 trillion wealth fund to divest from coal

Leave a reply




Today, on World Environment Day, Norway’s Parliament unanimously approved a decision to divest the country’s sovereign wealth fund from companies with more than 30% of their income from coal extraction or coal power.

According to calculations from campaign group urgewald, the divestment decision will affect investments in 150 companies worth approximately $13.3 billion (NOK 106.2 billion) of the fund’s current investments, which are worth in excess of $900 billion.

“With Norway’s decision, coal divestment has gone mainstream highlighting both the moral imperative and financial case for divestment”, said Nicolo Wojewoda, lead campaigner for 350.org‘s European team.

“Other institutions are left with no excuse to not follow suit. Coal is on its last leg; with king coal falling from its throne, we are all more inspired to go after big oil and gas.”

A coalition of civil society organizations including Greenpeace, WWF, Future in Our Hands, urgewald and 350.org hailed the decision as a critical first step out of fossil fuels by one of the world’s most oil-dependent economies, adding:

“Norway’s decision to divest its sovereign wealth fund from coal adds momentum to the growing global movement for climate action. This raises the bar for politicians to make further commitments – globally, as well as in Norway itself.”

Now, invest 5% in renewables!

They also promised to continue campaigning for the fund’s full divestment from all fossil fuels as well as increased investments in renewable energy: “Divestment from coal must be the first step for Norway, not the last. We will campaign for the fund to invest at least 5% of its value in renewables, particularly in emerging economies, and for full divestment from all fossil fuels.

“For Norway itself, our goal is a just transition out of oil and gas and into the green jobs of the future. We are rapidly approaching the time when no country can rely on fossil fuels for its economy or energy safety.”

The fund’s Ethical Council and its manager, the Bank of Norway, will now be tasked with developing regulations to implement the divestment decision, and the group of NGOs will be keeping close track of its actions and the precise wording it employs.

“These regulations will be critical to ensuring rapid, transparent and comprehensive implementation of this historic decision. Other investors, and civil society, will be watching closely to see if Norway can match its bold decision with equally bold and decisive action”, say the civil society organizations.

Pressure builds on other funds

A number of funds are in the firing line for their failure to divest from fossil fuels, notably the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Foundation which are targetted by the Guardian‘s ‘keep it in the ground‘ campaign.

350.org is now moving its focus to ABP, Holland’s biggest pension fund, which has 2.8 million beneficiaries and has investments worth some €344 billion: “With your help, we believe we can nudge the world’s third largest pension fund, the ABP, to divest from all fossil fuels.

“Just last week, their Chair Corien Wortmann got a tough grilling from a popular Dutch news anchor. She was asked repeatedly to respond to the growing @ABPfossielvrij campaign calling on them to divest from fossil fuels.”

On Monday this week London’s City Hall was targetted in a protest by Reclaim the Power to denounce the London Mayor Boris Johnson’s dismissal of the call from Divest London and the London Assembly call to divest their £4.8bn pension fund from oil, coal and gas, and his outspoken support for fracking.

Taking the Mayor at his word that “no stone should be left unfracked” they erected a 30ft tripod masquerading as a fracking drill directly outside City Hall and superglued themselves to the front of the building (see photo) while the noise of a fracking drill was relayed through loudspeakers.

In another victory for divestment campaigners, Oxford University voted last month to divest its £1.7 billion endowment fund from all direct holdings in coal and oil sands.

 

 

Further reading: Analysis of the direct consequences of the divestment decision for the holdings of the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund.

 






Norway’s $1 trillion wealth fund to divest from coal

Leave a reply




Today, on World Environment Day, Norway’s Parliament unanimously approved a decision to divest the country’s sovereign wealth fund from companies with more than 30% of their income from coal extraction or coal power.

According to calculations from campaign group urgewald, the divestment decision will affect investments in 150 companies worth approximately $13.3 billion (NOK 106.2 billion) of the fund’s current investments, which are worth in excess of $900 billion.

“With Norway’s decision, coal divestment has gone mainstream highlighting both the moral imperative and financial case for divestment”, said Nicolo Wojewoda, lead campaigner for 350.org‘s European team.

“Other institutions are left with no excuse to not follow suit. Coal is on its last leg; with king coal falling from its throne, we are all more inspired to go after big oil and gas.”

A coalition of civil society organizations including Greenpeace, WWF, Future in Our Hands, urgewald and 350.org hailed the decision as a critical first step out of fossil fuels by one of the world’s most oil-dependent economies, adding:

“Norway’s decision to divest its sovereign wealth fund from coal adds momentum to the growing global movement for climate action. This raises the bar for politicians to make further commitments – globally, as well as in Norway itself.”

Now, invest 5% in renewables!

They also promised to continue campaigning for the fund’s full divestment from all fossil fuels as well as increased investments in renewable energy: “Divestment from coal must be the first step for Norway, not the last. We will campaign for the fund to invest at least 5% of its value in renewables, particularly in emerging economies, and for full divestment from all fossil fuels.

“For Norway itself, our goal is a just transition out of oil and gas and into the green jobs of the future. We are rapidly approaching the time when no country can rely on fossil fuels for its economy or energy safety.”

The fund’s Ethical Council and its manager, the Bank of Norway, will now be tasked with developing regulations to implement the divestment decision, and the group of NGOs will be keeping close track of its actions and the precise wording it employs.

“These regulations will be critical to ensuring rapid, transparent and comprehensive implementation of this historic decision. Other investors, and civil society, will be watching closely to see if Norway can match its bold decision with equally bold and decisive action”, say the civil society organizations.

Pressure builds on other funds

A number of funds are in the firing line for their failure to divest from fossil fuels, notably the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Foundation which are targetted by the Guardian‘s ‘keep it in the ground‘ campaign.

350.org is now moving its focus to ABP, Holland’s biggest pension fund, which has 2.8 million beneficiaries and has investments worth some €344 billion: “With your help, we believe we can nudge the world’s third largest pension fund, the ABP, to divest from all fossil fuels.

“Just last week, their Chair Corien Wortmann got a tough grilling from a popular Dutch news anchor. She was asked repeatedly to respond to the growing @ABPfossielvrij campaign calling on them to divest from fossil fuels.”

On Monday this week London’s City Hall was targetted in a protest by Reclaim the Power to denounce the London Mayor Boris Johnson’s dismissal of the call from Divest London and the London Assembly call to divest their £4.8bn pension fund from oil, coal and gas, and his outspoken support for fracking.

Taking the Mayor at his word that “no stone should be left unfracked” they erected a 30ft tripod masquerading as a fracking drill directly outside City Hall and superglued themselves to the front of the building (see photo) while the noise of a fracking drill was relayed through loudspeakers.

In another victory for divestment campaigners, Oxford University voted last month to divest its £1.7 billion endowment fund from all direct holdings in coal and oil sands.

 

 

Further reading: Analysis of the direct consequences of the divestment decision for the holdings of the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund.

 






Norway’s $1 trillion wealth fund to divest from coal

Leave a reply




Today, on World Environment Day, Norway’s Parliament unanimously approved a decision to divest the country’s sovereign wealth fund from companies with more than 30% of their income from coal extraction or coal power.

According to calculations from campaign group urgewald, the divestment decision will affect investments in 150 companies worth approximately $13.3 billion (NOK 106.2 billion) of the fund’s current investments, which are worth in excess of $900 billion.

“With Norway’s decision, coal divestment has gone mainstream highlighting both the moral imperative and financial case for divestment”, said Nicolo Wojewoda, lead campaigner for 350.org‘s European team.

“Other institutions are left with no excuse to not follow suit. Coal is on its last leg; with king coal falling from its throne, we are all more inspired to go after big oil and gas.”

A coalition of civil society organizations including Greenpeace, WWF, Future in Our Hands, urgewald and 350.org hailed the decision as a critical first step out of fossil fuels by one of the world’s most oil-dependent economies, adding:

“Norway’s decision to divest its sovereign wealth fund from coal adds momentum to the growing global movement for climate action. This raises the bar for politicians to make further commitments – globally, as well as in Norway itself.”

Now, invest 5% in renewables!

They also promised to continue campaigning for the fund’s full divestment from all fossil fuels as well as increased investments in renewable energy: “Divestment from coal must be the first step for Norway, not the last. We will campaign for the fund to invest at least 5% of its value in renewables, particularly in emerging economies, and for full divestment from all fossil fuels.

“For Norway itself, our goal is a just transition out of oil and gas and into the green jobs of the future. We are rapidly approaching the time when no country can rely on fossil fuels for its economy or energy safety.”

The fund’s Ethical Council and its manager, the Bank of Norway, will now be tasked with developing regulations to implement the divestment decision, and the group of NGOs will be keeping close track of its actions and the precise wording it employs.

“These regulations will be critical to ensuring rapid, transparent and comprehensive implementation of this historic decision. Other investors, and civil society, will be watching closely to see if Norway can match its bold decision with equally bold and decisive action”, say the civil society organizations.

Pressure builds on other funds

A number of funds are in the firing line for their failure to divest from fossil fuels, notably the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Foundation which are targetted by the Guardian‘s ‘keep it in the ground‘ campaign.

350.org is now moving its focus to ABP, Holland’s biggest pension fund, which has 2.8 million beneficiaries and has investments worth some €344 billion: “With your help, we believe we can nudge the world’s third largest pension fund, the ABP, to divest from all fossil fuels.

“Just last week, their Chair Corien Wortmann got a tough grilling from a popular Dutch news anchor. She was asked repeatedly to respond to the growing @ABPfossielvrij campaign calling on them to divest from fossil fuels.”

On Monday this week London’s City Hall was targetted in a protest by Reclaim the Power to denounce the London Mayor Boris Johnson’s dismissal of the call from Divest London and the London Assembly call to divest their £4.8bn pension fund from oil, coal and gas, and his outspoken support for fracking.

Taking the Mayor at his word that “no stone should be left unfracked” they erected a 30ft tripod masquerading as a fracking drill directly outside City Hall and superglued themselves to the front of the building (see photo) while the noise of a fracking drill was relayed through loudspeakers.

In another victory for divestment campaigners, Oxford University voted last month to divest its £1.7 billion endowment fund from all direct holdings in coal and oil sands.

 

 

Further reading: Analysis of the direct consequences of the divestment decision for the holdings of the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund.