San Francisco and Seattle lead US cities pulling funds from fossil fuel firms

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/apr/25/us-cities-climate-divestment-fossil-fuels


Pond Creek coal mine, Johnson City, Illinois. Campaigners have targeted pension funds of major cities that invest in coal (Photograph: Andrew Harrer/Getty Images)

The cities of San Francisco and Seattle have pulled their money out of fossil fuel companies, taking a climate divestment campaign from college campuses to local government.

The campaign group 350.org said on Thursday it had won commitments from a total of 10 cities and towns to divest from 200 of leading fossil fuel companies.

"Divestment is just one of the steps we can take to address the climate crisis," the Seattle mayor, Mike McGinn, said in a statement. The divestment decision carries real weight for cities such as San Francisco, which control large employee pension funds.

City supervisors in San Francisco voted this week to move some $583m in its $16bn pension fund that was invested in fossil fuel companies. Other cities that signed on to the divestment campaign include: Madison and Bayfield in Wisconsin, Ithaca, New York, Boulder, Colorado, State College, Pennsylvania, Eugene, Oregon, and Richmond and Berkeley, both in California.