Is there any more conservative institution than a bank? Yes, a central bank. And yet, if divestment is so radical, why is the European Central Bank staff pension fund divesting? (Ok, ‘shifting investment to companies with lower carbon dioxide emissions’.) https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/23/business/climate-change-central-banks.html

Our new UCT campaign is underway: please visit the campaign to support.
https://fossilfreesa.org.za/our-campaigns-2/uct/

As of 19 August, letters to the new UCT Council have been sent by the Bishops Global Issues Network Club, Westerford, 350 Africa, and climate reality leader Roz Prinsloo, with many more in development.
https://fossilfreesa.org.za/our-campaigns-2/uct/

It seems the idea that we can use plastic and have it recycled is mostly a con-job from, you guessed, the fossil fuel industry. Turns out most plastic cannot be recycled. But the people who sell you plastic, and the people who sell plastic feedstock (mostly from oil) want you to think it can be recycled.

https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/897692090/how-big-oil-misled-the-public-into-believing-plastic-would-be-recycled

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. On 21 October, UCT's responsible investment panel heard us preset the case for the university to divest. On 14 November, we'll repeat that presentation online and give a general campaign update.

Register here: https://bit.ly/3kH9pLb.

Meeting URI: https://meet.google.com/ygz-bjuw-irv

ACT NOW: Sign a letter to your asset manager to #InvestFossilFree - http://bit.ly/signtoinvestfossilfree (our latest newsletter and the launch of our latest campaign)

Our new Fossil Free SA #InvestFossilFree campaign calling on asset managers to offer investors fossil fuel-free funds made the front page of Citywire earlier this week. https://citywire.co.za/news/local-managers-respond-to-fossil-free-sas-call-for-fossil-fuel-free-funds/a1468034

At 7pm this evening, we’re running a campaign launch webinar to explain the campaign in greater depth and answer your questions. Do join us: https://fossilfreesa.org.za/events/, meeting link: https://meet.google.com/fph-ojhz-atq

Our work on divestment in South Africa has now been profiled on US public radio; great to have some recognition of our contribution to this global struggle against exploitation and for human rights! Time to #InvestFossilFree.
https://www.pri.org/stories/2021-03-18/climate-divestment-activists-draw-inspiration-south-africa-s-anti-apartheid

Dear Fossil Free SA supporter,

It has been a hard few days to watch the devastation of the Cape Town wildfire on UCT. One of the unfortunate impacts of climate change is the growing intensity and frequency of disasters such as wildfires. That, coupled with the fuel load of the alien pine forest on UCT property, may have worsened the fire. 

The increase of such disasters as a result of climate change is just one of many reasons FFSA has been calling on UCT to stop investing in the fossil fuels that are leading to climate breakdown. But there is some good news....

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.

This is major progress indeed. But what now? We must ensure that institutional tweaks, however promising, don’t inadvertently become a cover for greenwashing. The conservative asset managers and advisers that serve UCT have shown no signs hitherto of embracing the kinds of systemic change that is needed, and they will be most likely push back to try to ensure UCT's responsible investment strategy does not disrupt their preferred status quo.

We have to keep up the pressure now to ensure that the UPRI and UCT actually embraces the Climate Emergency Investment Plan we proposed and that was endorsed by UCT's Convocation last December:

1. Publicly acknowledge the climate emergency, and that it demands dramatic shifts in investment practices. 
2. Immediately divert R300 m from the R7 billion UCT endowment to new fossil free, socially responsible SA equity fund/s; and divest offshore funds.
3. Work together with other SA universities and progressive investors such as philanthropies to foster further such funds.
4. Commit to complete divestment over five years.

What you can do

• If you're part of the UCT community / alumni, you will be able to attend the virtual launch this Thursday, 22 April at 18:30 (Teams link here). We encourage you to attend and to speak out if possible in favour of divestment, and for the UPRI to make determined and principled recommendations echoing our climate emergency investment plan.
• Part of the UCT community or not, you can engage on the panel's call for engagement on fossil fuel divestment, for which the deadline is 14 May. 

Thank you for your continued support!

David, Sarah, and the FFSA team

We invite you to join UCT students, alumni, and the Fossil Free South Africa community to take part in this pivotal moment in the campaign to get UCT to Divest from Fossil Fuels.

Send an email expressing your support for fossil fuel divestment to upri-group@uct.ac.za by 14 May at the latest.

For those that are in Cape Town, we also invite you to join us for a protest at UCT on Tuesday 11 May at 1pm. (spaces are limited due to covid-19 precaution.)

Register here: http://bit.ly/uctmayprotest Find out more about the campaign, and inform your email submission, here: http://bit.ly/uctdivestcampaign

Please support calls for the University of Pretoria to support the principles of climate justice.

https://awethu.amandla.mobi/petitions/university-of-pretoria-to-endorse-the-climate-justice-charter

We're still working our asset manager campaign, please see our newsletter from last week if you haven't already done so.

http://eepurl.com/hC9YW9

Here's another take on why this is so important:

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/welcome-age-asset-manager-capitalism/

The #DivestWits campaign is gaining momentum! Some of the Wits staff who are calling for the university to divest from fossil fuels have written this piece published in Daily Maverick: bit.ly/3kb6viN

We have two things to share this week:
- Our (sceptical) analysis of Sasol’s new “green” climate targets: https://fossilfreesa.org.za/2021/10/26/sasol-industrial-scale-greenwash/
- Sign-ons welcome: A letter to News24 calling for enhanced climate coverage: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nveMxR6MGeRTzm8DjD9WuHv3NWMl4qD22Y9IIiXPIhU/edit

The global climate summit @COP26 #COP26 finishes today. South Africans: here are two actions you can take right now to support a safer climate. 1. Support UCT students in asking UCT to stop investing in fossil fuels: https://bit.ly/3n5NsJk 2. If you have investments, ask for fossil fuel-free options: http://bit.ly/invest-fossil-free