Pledged funds of $2.6 trillion to dump coal

• 8 years ago (2015-09-23)

North America 1004

---

While environmental campaigners say this signals the beginning of widespread divestment, many of the largest investors have only taken their money away from coal, leaving their other investments in oil and gas largely untouched.

Ellen Dorsey of the Wallace Global Fund, a foundation focused on environmental and social issues, said: "We're seeing a fundamental change here. If you're not paying attention as an investor, you're being negligent."

While the total value of investments that will be sold is unknown, Ryan Strode of Arabella Advisors said that a sample of just 7 per cent of the investors involved had, or were going to have, sold $6 billion worth of investments in fossil fuel.

Many of the investments to be sold off will be at struggling fossil fuel companies – such as Peabody Energy, which, although the largest US coal group by production, has witnessed a 98 per cent drop in share price since April 2011, due to pressure from new green regulations, competition from cheap gas and a general slump in world markets.