Providence City Council wants action on divestment from fossil fuel stocks

PROVIDENCE – The City Council on Thursday approved a resolution calling on the Board of Investment Commissioners to move forward with divestment of city investments from fossil fuel companies.
The resolution is a follow-up to Councilman Seth Yurdin’s legislation that was passed by the council in June 2013. That legislation called on the Board of Investment Commissioners to ensure that none of the city’s assets include holdings in the world’s 200 largest fossil fuel companies within five years.
A year ago, the board agreed to sell city holdings from the “filthy 15” – considered to be America’s largest and dirtiest coal companies – but has not yet taken further public steps to fully divest from fossil fuels in accordance with the 2013 directive from the City Council.
“It’s good to see that the Board of Investment Commissioners has voted to support divestment from the 15 worst coal companies, but now it’s time to divest the rest,” Yurdin said in a statement.
Besides calling for full divestment, the resolution asks the board to provide an update in 30 days on its divestment progress from the “filthy 15” and remaining fossil fuel portfolio.
The city of Providence is one of 500 institutions worldwide that have committed to divesting from large, publicly traded coal, oil and gas companies.
Last year, the Rhode Island School of Design’s board of trustees voted unanimously to divest the college endowment’s direct investments in fossil-fuel extraction company stocks and bonds.

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1 COMMENT

  1. Is it wise to divest of these interests when the energy sector is trading at all time lows? I appreciate the desire to feel good about where the money is invested, however is it worth the losses affiliated with doing so?