SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Another Green Victory: Copenhagen Set to Divest from All Fossil Fuels
"Copenhagen is at the forefront of the world’s big cities in the green transition...Therefore it seems totally inappropriate for the city to still be investing in oil, coal and gas."
Feb 02, 2016
The Copenhagen City Council on Tuesday is expected to approve a vote to divest the city's investment fund, worth 6.9 billion kroner, or roughly $1 billion USD, from all its fossil fuels holdings.
If the vote passes, the Danish capital will sell off its stocks and bonds in coal, oil, and gas in its continued effort to become "the world's first CO2-neutral capital by 2025," Mayor Frank Jensen told local media.
The exact amount the city has invested in fossil fuels has not been made publicly available, but reporting indicates the divestment would cost approximately 1 million kroner in fees to execute.
"Copenhagen is at the forefront of the world's big cities in the green transition... Therefore it seems totally inappropriate for the city to still be investing in oil, coal and gas," Jensen said. "We need to change that and I think this will sit will with Copenhageners' desire for a green profile for their city."
In the wake of the COP21 global climate pact signed last December in Paris, communities around the world are increasingly turning away from fossil fuels and looking to renewable energy. Jensen said he hoped Copenhagen's move would inspire other cities to follow suit.
"I'm not aware of other capitals that have made such a clear decision as the one we are now making. But I think more will follow in the wake of the climate agreement in Paris," he told the Danish news outlet Information. "The development will go quickly--we are now hearing about coal companies going bankrupt at a fast clip."
The divestment movement has been picking up steam--so to speak--as climate change becomes an increasingly urgent concern. The divestment advocacy group Fossil Free estimates that more than 500 institutions, representing over $3.4 trillion in assets, have committed to pulling their resources from the carbon-intensive industries.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Nadia Prupis
Nadia Prupis is a former Common Dreams staff writer. She wrote on media policy for Truthout.org and has been published in New America Media and AlterNet. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English in 2008.
The Copenhagen City Council on Tuesday is expected to approve a vote to divest the city's investment fund, worth 6.9 billion kroner, or roughly $1 billion USD, from all its fossil fuels holdings.
If the vote passes, the Danish capital will sell off its stocks and bonds in coal, oil, and gas in its continued effort to become "the world's first CO2-neutral capital by 2025," Mayor Frank Jensen told local media.
The exact amount the city has invested in fossil fuels has not been made publicly available, but reporting indicates the divestment would cost approximately 1 million kroner in fees to execute.
"Copenhagen is at the forefront of the world's big cities in the green transition... Therefore it seems totally inappropriate for the city to still be investing in oil, coal and gas," Jensen said. "We need to change that and I think this will sit will with Copenhageners' desire for a green profile for their city."
In the wake of the COP21 global climate pact signed last December in Paris, communities around the world are increasingly turning away from fossil fuels and looking to renewable energy. Jensen said he hoped Copenhagen's move would inspire other cities to follow suit.
"I'm not aware of other capitals that have made such a clear decision as the one we are now making. But I think more will follow in the wake of the climate agreement in Paris," he told the Danish news outlet Information. "The development will go quickly--we are now hearing about coal companies going bankrupt at a fast clip."
The divestment movement has been picking up steam--so to speak--as climate change becomes an increasingly urgent concern. The divestment advocacy group Fossil Free estimates that more than 500 institutions, representing over $3.4 trillion in assets, have committed to pulling their resources from the carbon-intensive industries.
Nadia Prupis
Nadia Prupis is a former Common Dreams staff writer. She wrote on media policy for Truthout.org and has been published in New America Media and AlterNet. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English in 2008.
The Copenhagen City Council on Tuesday is expected to approve a vote to divest the city's investment fund, worth 6.9 billion kroner, or roughly $1 billion USD, from all its fossil fuels holdings.
If the vote passes, the Danish capital will sell off its stocks and bonds in coal, oil, and gas in its continued effort to become "the world's first CO2-neutral capital by 2025," Mayor Frank Jensen told local media.
The exact amount the city has invested in fossil fuels has not been made publicly available, but reporting indicates the divestment would cost approximately 1 million kroner in fees to execute.
"Copenhagen is at the forefront of the world's big cities in the green transition... Therefore it seems totally inappropriate for the city to still be investing in oil, coal and gas," Jensen said. "We need to change that and I think this will sit will with Copenhageners' desire for a green profile for their city."
In the wake of the COP21 global climate pact signed last December in Paris, communities around the world are increasingly turning away from fossil fuels and looking to renewable energy. Jensen said he hoped Copenhagen's move would inspire other cities to follow suit.
"I'm not aware of other capitals that have made such a clear decision as the one we are now making. But I think more will follow in the wake of the climate agreement in Paris," he told the Danish news outlet Information. "The development will go quickly--we are now hearing about coal companies going bankrupt at a fast clip."
The divestment movement has been picking up steam--so to speak--as climate change becomes an increasingly urgent concern. The divestment advocacy group Fossil Free estimates that more than 500 institutions, representing over $3.4 trillion in assets, have committed to pulling their resources from the carbon-intensive industries.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.