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Billionnaires against fossil fuels Updated for 2026

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The latest fund to announce its divestment from fossil fuels is none other then the heir to the Rockefeller fortune, built on oil and coal.

Coinciding with today’s UN Climate Change Summit in New York, the Rockefeller Brother’s Fund said that not only would it pull vast sums of money out of fossil fuels, but that it would funnel the money into clean energy.

This latest announcement is further evidence that the divestment movement is unstoppably gaining traction and snowballing, fast.

Institutions across the globe have begun to pledge to divest from fossil fuels in support of the climate change campaign. This list includes the British Medical Association and the Church of Sweden.

The combined asset size of the 837 institutions and individuals committing to divest amounts to more than $50 billion, campaign group 350.org has calculated. 

$50 billion moving out of fossil fuels

The move towards rapid divestment form individuals and institutions has been a result of support for the climate change movement.

The demand for climate change action was evident on Sunday when an estimated 40,000 people took to the streets of London for the Peoples Climate March, which saw over 2,000 protests take place around the world in a bid to make world leaders take solid action towards a stopping climate change.

The movement also took New York by storm with an estimated 400,000 marchers, as well as Rio, Jakarta, Brisbane and hundreds of cities around the world.

In New York, many of the 50,000 students, faith groups, state contingents, and groups carrying banners representing cities or towns, also wore orange squares representing fossil fuel divestment.

Records show that 181 institutions and local governments and 656 individuals representing over $50 billion dollars have pledged to divest to-date.

That number includes the $860 million which will be redirected from fossil fuels by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. The report indicates that divestment commitments have doubled in the eight months since January 2014.

But emissions keep on increasing

Yet carbon dioxide emissions, the main contributor to global warming, are set to rise again in 2014 – reaching a record high of 40 billion tonnes, according to research from the University of East Anglia (UEA).

The 2.5% projected rise in burning fossil fuels has been revealed by the Global Carbon Project, which is co-led in the UK by researchers at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at UEA and the College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences at theUniversity of Exeter.

The latest annual update of the Global Carbon Budget shows that total future CO2 emissions cannot exceed 1,200 billion tonnes – for a likely 66% chance of keeping average global warming under two degrees Celsius.

At the current rate of CO2 emissions, this 1,200 billion tonne CO2 ‘quota’ would be used up in around 30 years. This means that there is just one generation before the safeguards to a two degrees limit may be breached.

‘Unburnable’ carbon

To avoid this, a team of international climate scientists have said that more than half of all fossil fuel reserves may need to be left in the ground and are essentially ‘unburnable’.

Professor Corinne Le Quéré, Director of the Tyndall Centre at UEA, said: “The human influence on climate change is clear. “We need substantial and sustained reductions in CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels if we are to limit global climate change.

“We are nowhere near the commitments necessary to stay below two degrees celsius of climate change, a level that will be already challenging to manage for most countries around the world, even for rich nations.”

Professor Pierre Friedlingstein, from the University of Exeter, said: “The time for a quiet evolution in our attitudes towards climate change is now over. Delaying action is not an option – we need to act together, and act quickly, if we are to stand a chance of avoiding climate change not long into the future, but within many of our own lifetimes.

He added: “We have already used two-thirds of the total amount of carbon we can burn, in order to keep warming below the crucial two degrees Celsius level. If we carry on at the current rate we will reach our limit in as little as 30 years’ time – and that is without any continued growth in emission levels.

“The implication of no immediate action is worryingly clear – either we take a collective responsibility to make a difference, and soon, or it will be too late.”

 

 

This article was originally published by Trillion Fund.

 




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Climate March and Summit: world leaders’ ‘flimsy pledges’ denounced Updated for 2026

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This Sunday 21st September hundreds of thousands of people have pledged to march in New York, London, Amsterdam and many other cities around the world to demand climate justice, standing with climate and dirty energy-affected communities worldwide.

They are hoping to influence world leaders gathering in New York for their one-day Climate Summit taking place on 23rd September to exceed the poor expectations vested in them.

“Our demand is for action, not words”, the organizers explain. “We must take the action necessary to create a world with an economy that works for people and the planet – now. In short, we want a world safe from the ravages of climate change.”

Friends of the Earth International (FOEI) is among those warning that little progress is likely. “A parade of leaders trying to make themselves look good does not bring us any closer to the real action we need to address the climate crisis”, said Dipti Bhatnagar, FOEI’s Climate Justice and Energy coordinator.

“World leaders are falling far short of delivering what we need to truly tackle climate change in a just way. Their flimsy non-binding pledges in New York will do little to improve their track record.

“What we urgently need are equitable and binding carbon reductions, not flimsy voluntary ones. This one-day Summit will not deliver any substantial action in the fight against climate change.”

Record levels, record increases, of greenhouse gases

Last week the World Meteorological Organization warned that atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases hit a record in 2013 as carbon dioxide concentrations grew at the fastest rate since global records began.

The impact of increasingly common extreme weather events, such as flooding, droughts and hurricanes, are devastating the lives and livelihoods of many millions of people.

Climate change is directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people per year, most of whom live in poorer countries. Without immediate and decisive action, climate change will certainly get worse and could pass a dangerous tipping point where it becomes both catastrophic and irreversible.

The 195 States that signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) recognise that rich, industrialised countries have done the most to cause climate change and must take the lead in solving it, and provide funds to poorer countries.

Both rich and poor countries are failing their people

But developed countries’ leaders are neglecting their responsibilities to prevent climate catastrophe, as their positions are increasingly driven by the financial interests of fossil fuel industries and multinational corporations.

The same interests are also opposing renewable energy and have succeeded in undermining support regimes in the UK and elsewhere, limiting the funds available and getting the bulk of the ‘low carbon’ finance available in the UK diverted to nuclear power – an expensive and ineffective way to tackle climate change.

Bill McKibben and the 350.org campaign he founded have highlighted the need to return to 350 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide (CO2) – and then lower still – to preserve the planet and its people.

The sharing of this burden, they say, must be based on historical responsibility, capacity to act and access to sustainable development in order to enable a just global transition.

A Peoples’ March to end carbon emissions

A total phase out of carbon emissions by 2050 is necessary, says FOEI, in order to reverse current warming trends and minimize the chance of irreversible damage and possible runaway climate change, with reductions agreed through a legally-binding agreement at the UNFCCC.

“Funds are urgently needed for clean, sustainable community energy and adaptation to climate change in developing countries”, the group adds, explaining its support for a ‘Financial Transactions Tax‘ as a source of climate finance.

The People’s Climate March has been endorsed by over 1,200 organizations representing 100 million people worldwide.

“We know that no single meeting or summit will ‘solve climate change’ and in many ways this moment will not even really be about the summit”, say organizers.

“We want this moment to be about us – the people who are standing up in our communities, to organise, to build power, to confront the power of fossil fuels, and to shift power to a just, safe, peaceful world. To do that, we need to act – together.”

 

 




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Tory MPs: ‘climate change is not man made’ Updated for 2026

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Only 30% of Conservative MPs accept that climate change has been proven to be caused by human activity, according to a new poll by PR Week.

The survey of 119 MPs from all parties was commissioned by the magazine from Populus to establish the attitudes of parliamentarians to climate change and environmental issues as part of a special report on the subject. 
 
Only 51% of MPs agree that it is an established fact that global warming is largely man made, though there are substantial differences between parties. 

Nearly three-quarters (73%) of Labour MPs agree that man-made global warming is now an established scientific fact compared with 30% of Tory MPs.

Over half (53%) of Conservative MPs agree with the statement that “it has not yet been conclusively proved that climate change is man made.” A further 18% agree that “man-made climate change is environmentalist propaganda.”

Falling off the political agenda

Climate change has fallen down the political agenda in the past five years, said half of all MPs, compared with 23% who believe the opposite. 

However, 68% of all MPs believe more should be done to raise aware of environmental issues. 

Greenpeace UK executive director John Sauven described the findings as a “huge embarrassment” for David Cameron in the run-up to the UN climate change summit in New York later this month.

“There’s virtually no scientific argument left about whether manmade climate change exists, yet two-thirds of Tory MPs are ready to ignore the science in the name of ideology”, he said. 

“There’s no reason for the laws of physics to stop at the right of centre of British politics. Climate change is real and is happening – we’re all going to pay a price for our politicians’ failure to take it seriously.”

What happened to Thatcher’s legacy?

The minister for energy and climate change, Amber Rudd, sought to dispel the impression that the Conservatives are the party of climate change denial. 

“Man-made climate change is one of the most serious threats that we face”, she said.

“In 1988 Margaret Thatcher, a scientist herself, put climate change firmly on the political agenda in her speech to the Royal Society when she said: ‘It’s we Conservatives who are not merely friends of the earth – we are its guardians and trustees for generations to come…

“‘No generation has a freehold on this earth. All we have is a life tenancy – with a full repairing lease. This Government intends to meet the terms of that lease in full.'”

PRWeek’s examination of the state of the climate change message includes the results of a separate poll of 2,000 members of the public by YouGov. 

This found that 80% agree that the climate is changing and 60% think it is the result of human activity. 

A third of voters believe concerns about climate change are exaggerated.

 

 

 

This article was originally published by PR Week.

 

 




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Tory MPs: ‘climate change is not man made’ Updated for 2026

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Only 30% of Conservative MPs accept that climate change has been proven to be caused by human activity, according to a new poll by PR Week.

The survey of 119 MPs from all parties was commissioned by the magazine from Populus to establish the attitudes of parliamentarians to climate change and environmental issues as part of a special report on the subject. 
 
Only 51% of MPs agree that it is an established fact that global warming is largely man made, though there are substantial differences between parties. 

Nearly three-quarters (73%) of Labour MPs agree that man-made global warming is now an established scientific fact compared with 30% of Tory MPs.

Over half (53%) of Conservative MPs agree with the statement that “it has not yet been conclusively proved that climate change is man made.” A further 18% agree that “man-made climate change is environmentalist propaganda.”

Falling off the political agenda

Climate change has fallen down the political agenda in the past five years, said half of all MPs, compared with 23% who believe the opposite. 

However, 68% of all MPs believe more should be done to raise aware of environmental issues. 

Greenpeace UK executive director John Sauven described the findings as a “huge embarrassment” for David Cameron in the run-up to the UN climate change summit in New York later this month.

“There’s virtually no scientific argument left about whether manmade climate change exists, yet two-thirds of Tory MPs are ready to ignore the science in the name of ideology”, he said. 

“There’s no reason for the laws of physics to stop at the right of centre of British politics. Climate change is real and is happening – we’re all going to pay a price for our politicians’ failure to take it seriously.”

What happened to Thatcher’s legacy?

The minister for energy and climate change, Amber Rudd, sought to dispel the impression that the Conservatives are the party of climate change denial. 

“Man-made climate change is one of the most serious threats that we face”, she said.

“In 1988 Margaret Thatcher, a scientist herself, put climate change firmly on the political agenda in her speech to the Royal Society when she said: ‘It’s we Conservatives who are not merely friends of the earth – we are its guardians and trustees for generations to come…

“‘No generation has a freehold on this earth. All we have is a life tenancy – with a full repairing lease. This Government intends to meet the terms of that lease in full.'”

PRWeek’s examination of the state of the climate change message includes the results of a separate poll of 2,000 members of the public by YouGov. 

This found that 80% agree that the climate is changing and 60% think it is the result of human activity. 

A third of voters believe concerns about climate change are exaggerated.

 

 

 

This article was originally published by PR Week.

 

 




384119

Tory MPs: ‘climate change is not man made’ Updated for 2026

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Only 30% of Conservative MPs accept that climate change has been proven to be caused by human activity, according to a new poll by PR Week.

The survey of 119 MPs from all parties was commissioned by the magazine from Populus to establish the attitudes of parliamentarians to climate change and environmental issues as part of a special report on the subject. 
 
Only 51% of MPs agree that it is an established fact that global warming is largely man made, though there are substantial differences between parties. 

Nearly three-quarters (73%) of Labour MPs agree that man-made global warming is now an established scientific fact compared with 30% of Tory MPs.

Over half (53%) of Conservative MPs agree with the statement that “it has not yet been conclusively proved that climate change is man made.” A further 18% agree that “man-made climate change is environmentalist propaganda.”

Falling off the political agenda

Climate change has fallen down the political agenda in the past five years, said half of all MPs, compared with 23% who believe the opposite. 

However, 68% of all MPs believe more should be done to raise aware of environmental issues. 

Greenpeace UK executive director John Sauven described the findings as a “huge embarrassment” for David Cameron in the run-up to the UN climate change summit in New York later this month.

“There’s virtually no scientific argument left about whether manmade climate change exists, yet two-thirds of Tory MPs are ready to ignore the science in the name of ideology”, he said. 

“There’s no reason for the laws of physics to stop at the right of centre of British politics. Climate change is real and is happening – we’re all going to pay a price for our politicians’ failure to take it seriously.”

What happened to Thatcher’s legacy?

The minister for energy and climate change, Amber Rudd, sought to dispel the impression that the Conservatives are the party of climate change denial. 

“Man-made climate change is one of the most serious threats that we face”, she said.

“In 1988 Margaret Thatcher, a scientist herself, put climate change firmly on the political agenda in her speech to the Royal Society when she said: ‘It’s we Conservatives who are not merely friends of the earth – we are its guardians and trustees for generations to come…

“‘No generation has a freehold on this earth. All we have is a life tenancy – with a full repairing lease. This Government intends to meet the terms of that lease in full.'”

PRWeek’s examination of the state of the climate change message includes the results of a separate poll of 2,000 members of the public by YouGov. 

This found that 80% agree that the climate is changing and 60% think it is the result of human activity. 

A third of voters believe concerns about climate change are exaggerated.

 

 

 

This article was originally published by PR Week.

 

 




384119

Tory MPs: ‘climate change is not man made’ Updated for 2026

Leave a reply




Only 30% of Conservative MPs accept that climate change has been proven to be caused by human activity, according to a new poll by PR Week.

The survey of 119 MPs from all parties was commissioned by the magazine from Populus to establish the attitudes of parliamentarians to climate change and environmental issues as part of a special report on the subject. 
 
Only 51% of MPs agree that it is an established fact that global warming is largely man made, though there are substantial differences between parties. 

Nearly three-quarters (73%) of Labour MPs agree that man-made global warming is now an established scientific fact compared with 30% of Tory MPs.

Over half (53%) of Conservative MPs agree with the statement that “it has not yet been conclusively proved that climate change is man made.” A further 18% agree that “man-made climate change is environmentalist propaganda.”

Falling off the political agenda

Climate change has fallen down the political agenda in the past five years, said half of all MPs, compared with 23% who believe the opposite. 

However, 68% of all MPs believe more should be done to raise aware of environmental issues. 

Greenpeace UK executive director John Sauven described the findings as a “huge embarrassment” for David Cameron in the run-up to the UN climate change summit in New York later this month.

“There’s virtually no scientific argument left about whether manmade climate change exists, yet two-thirds of Tory MPs are ready to ignore the science in the name of ideology”, he said. 

“There’s no reason for the laws of physics to stop at the right of centre of British politics. Climate change is real and is happening – we’re all going to pay a price for our politicians’ failure to take it seriously.”

What happened to Thatcher’s legacy?

The minister for energy and climate change, Amber Rudd, sought to dispel the impression that the Conservatives are the party of climate change denial. 

“Man-made climate change is one of the most serious threats that we face”, she said.

“In 1988 Margaret Thatcher, a scientist herself, put climate change firmly on the political agenda in her speech to the Royal Society when she said: ‘It’s we Conservatives who are not merely friends of the earth – we are its guardians and trustees for generations to come…

“‘No generation has a freehold on this earth. All we have is a life tenancy – with a full repairing lease. This Government intends to meet the terms of that lease in full.'”

PRWeek’s examination of the state of the climate change message includes the results of a separate poll of 2,000 members of the public by YouGov. 

This found that 80% agree that the climate is changing and 60% think it is the result of human activity. 

A third of voters believe concerns about climate change are exaggerated.

 

 

 

This article was originally published by PR Week.

 

 




384119

How much do asexual plants actually change? Updated for 2026

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A sexual reproduction system should confer higher mutation rates and hence evolutionary rate than asexual ones. Is it really so? Find out in the Early View paper “Asexual plants change just as often and just as fast as do sexual plants when introduced to a new range” by Rhiannon L. Dalrymple and colleagues. Below is their summary of the study:

Many of the world’s most invasive plant species can reproduce asexually. However, asexuality might be a double edged sword for introduced species. Shortly after introduction, asexual species might have the upper hand because they do not need a partner for promptly increasing in numbers and establishing populations in the new range. Classic theory tells us that sexual reproduction should fuel the processes of adaption through the creation of variation on which natural selection can act. While asexuality may be of advantage in the early phases of introduction, it may lead to an evolutionary dead end.

We measured the rate of changes in multiple asexual species distributed through Australia’s east coast and New Zealand. We have provided evidence that multiple asexual species have undergone rapid morphological changes in response to the novel environments in their introduced range. We then compared the proportion of asexual species that demonstrated a significant change in at least one trait, and the rates at which these changes progressed, to comparable data on sexual species. This was the first test of the difference in potential for rapid change afforded by sexuality, cross species and in the natural world. Our results were astounding: we found no significant difference in the rate or frequency of rapid changes between asexual and sexual species. That is, sex and genetic recombination do not increase the rate or potential for change in this context. Introduction to a novel environment, a population may experience strong selective forces. The new environmental conditions force rapid and significant changes in the phenotype of both asexual and sexual species. It appears that in the process of introduction – it may be adapt or fail, regardless of breeding system.

Asexual1 Asexual2

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