Ways to divest

Local authorities across the UK are investing around £10 billion in fossil fuel companies like Shell and BP through the pension funds they manage.

There are already more than 50 local groups working for divestment, and anyone anywhere can get campaigning with their local community to kick fossil fuels out of our councils.

If you’re a student, you can call on your university to break ties with the fossil fuel industry and stand up for our future.

Half of all UK universities have already made divestment commitments, but there’s still work to do.

Find out if your university has divested yet, and see if there’s an existing divestment campaign where you are.

Find your university's divestment campaign

Or, if you're at one of the unis that's already made a commitment, why not campaign  for Fossil Free Careers?

If you're an academic, you will be a member of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) - one of the largest pension schemes in Europe and holding over £1,000 million in fossil fuel companies.

Divest USS is a group of USS members committed to reforming USS and ensuring an investment strategy that protects the planet, respects human rights, invests responsibly and ensures good pensions.

To protect their profits, fossil fuel companies are blocking action on climate change. They use donations, private lobbying meetings and lucrative job opportunities to ensure politicians act in their favour — not ours.

Working together, we can expose this influence and kick the polluters out of our democracy for good!

Get involved in the campaign for a Fossil Free Parliament

NCVO's Fuelling Positive Change campaign is calling on the sector to take charity money out of fossil fuels.

Sign up to the campaign and access support from NCVO on making your commitment

Operation Noah runs the BrightNow campaign, working with the Church to inspire action on climate change and secure divestment commitments from faith institutions.

Climate change is affecting the health of both people and the planet right now.

Medact is working with the major health institutions in the UK to take this commitment further by divesting from the fossil fuel industry, successfully securing divestment commitments from the Royal College of GPs, the Faculty of Public Health and the British Psychological Society.

Tipping Point UK supports grassroots groups working for an end to all fossil fuel industry financing and a transformation of the economic systems that fuel climate injustice.

Bank On Our Future is a network of organisations and social movements calling on the UK’s biggest financial institutions to divest from fossil fuel companies and invest in more resilient, clean, and fair communities.

Through sport sponsorships and advertising, companies are given free reign to push products and services that have a detrimental impact on fans, wider society, and the planet.

Whether it’s fossil fuel giants, gambling platforms, or alcohol firms, sports is awash with advertisements that look increasingly egregious given what we know about the social impacts of climate change, alcoholism, and gambling addiction.

The Game Changer Sponsorship Pledge seeks to bring like-minded fans, sports clubs, and athletes together to build a future without fossil fuel sponsorship.

Culture Unstained runs campaigns calling on the UK's arts and cultural institutions - like galleries, museums and theatres - to end sponsorship deals and cut ties with the fossil fuel industry.

Other key sponsorship campaigns and groups include:

• Fossil Free Science Museum
• BP or not BP? - a network of actors performing disobedient theatre in oil-sponsored spaces

• Badvertising is a campaign to stop adverts and sponsorships fuelling the climate emergency. This includes, amongst others, ads and sponsorships for cars, airline flights and fossil fuels.
• Adfree Cities is a network of groups across the UK who are concerned about the impacts of corporate advertising on our health, wellbeing, environment, climate, communities and the local economy.

DivestInvest is a global network of individuals and organisations working to use their influence as investors to drive forward climate progress by divesting from fossil fuels and investing in climate solutions.