Antinuclear

Rockefeller Brothers Fund warns Australia on diseconomics of investing in coal

Australian Government ‘stuck in the past’ defending fossil fuels, descendant of John D Rockefeller says, ABC News   Four Corners  By Geoff Thompson  15 June 15 A descendant of America’s first billionaire John D Rockefeller, whose fortune was built on oil, has accused the Australian Government of being “stuck in the past” for continuing to defend fossil fuels like coal.

Valerie Rockefeller Wayne is the chair of the $1.1 billion Rockefeller Brothers Fund, a charity committed to social change. The fund last year joined a growing “divestment” movement by abandoning its investments in coal companies.

“The value of coal stock in the United States has gone down 60 to 90 per cent,” Ms Rockefeller told the ABC’s Four Corners program. “This is a global phenomenon and we want to get out of those because we see the fossil fuel investments as risky.”

Ms Rockefeller said the numbers for coal no longer added up in Australia either.

“If you look just at the financial data in Australia … over the past five years, the SNP500 has gone up by 76 per cent,” she said. “The value of coal stocks has gone down by 71 per cent, so you’ve lost a lot of money if you’ve been in coal.”…………..

“In my mind Australia’s an extremely progressive country that has been an international player on so many issues. “It is baffling to me why the current Australian Government is stuck in the past rather than looking towards the future and becoming part of the solution.”

Ten days ago Norway decided one of the world’s richest government pension funds, the $1.1 trillion Norwegian Sovereign Wealth fund, would divest from companies that derive more than 30 per cent of their income from coal.

Last week the G7 group of industrial nations agreed to give up fossil fuels by the end of the century. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-15/government-stuck-in-the-past-defending-fossil-fuels-rockefeller/6544200

June 15, 2015 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, business, climate change - global warming