The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has sold off all is holdings in British Petroleum during a year end clean-out of their stock divestment.
The foundation sold off over $187 million (USD) in BP between September and December of 2015. The large transaction was the foundation’s entire holding in the company.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is said to have offloaded its investments in Exxon-Mobil. That investment dumped $824 million worth of stocks in 2014.
A recent report shows that the foundation’s investments in major fossil fuel companies has dropped 85 per cent in the past two years alone. The same report shows that the foundation will have zero investments in any fossil fuel company within the next two years.
Gates said on several occasions that investing in fossil fuels is a “false solution.”
Scientists say that same ‘false hope’ is what has driven man-made climate change, creating those who drive investments and running up fossil fuel industry profits to the point where they become a hazard, not only to someone’s wallet, but also to the very environment in which we live.
The massive sell off by the foundation is meant to send a message throughout the industry that oil and coal is not only a risky move, but a sleeping dinosaur to the world.
This past November, Bill Gates announced to the world that he and 27 other investors would commit themselves to investing in companies that can bring clean energy to the marketplace.
The group is known as The Breakthrough Energy Coalition will bring together billionaires like Richard Branson, Tom Steyer, George Soros, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos whose intention is to invest in companies they believe can help make clean energy widely available.
The group’s main concern is to help speed up the pace of innovations around the globe, hoping to fight off the overall effects of climate change.