Rockefeller Fund Bailing Out Of Oil

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the $860 million philanthropic organization originating in a family fortune built in the oil business, announced it would divest from fossil fuels. In doing so, it joins a primarily college-based fossil fuel divestiture movement. Even proponents, however, expect the direct financial impact of the divestiture to be minor, and pension funds, which would make a bigger difference, have proved to be “a harder sell,” according to the New York Times account. The article also notes, however, that Steven Rockefeller, a son of Nelson A. Rockefeller and a fund trustee, predicts that companies that have invested heavily in fossil fuel reserves are going to suffer financial problems, as climate change and reactions to it become manifest.