350.org's Bill McKibben on Harvard Board Overseer Resignation Over Fossil Fuel Investments

Yesterday evening Kat Taylor, Harvard Board Overseer, announced her formal resignation over the university's failure to divest from fossil fuel companies.

Bill McKibben, 350.org co-founder, issued the following statement on the significance of this news:

"The establishment is really beginning to crack apart on this question of climate change--when you have a bank president resigning her Harvard post to protest inaction on divestment it's a sign that the message has gotten through. On an ever-hotter earth, leaders are starting to turn up the heat."

Students with Divest Harvard have been urging the elite university to divest since the global campaign's inception in 2012. In April 2015, hundreds of students, staff, alumni, community members, faith and climate movement leaders, and more camped out for a full week in the campus Square for "Harvard Heat Week," aiming to bring national attention to the need for the University's decision-makers to choose a side: that of fossil fuel corporations, or that of the students they're meant to represent. In April 2017, the day before the Peoples Climate March, the Harvard Management Company announced its intent to "pause" some fossil fuel investments.

To date, over 880 institutions from all sectors of society representing more than $6 trillion in assets have committed to some level of divestment. Notable commitments include New York City's pensions, the British Medical Association, Norway's Sovereign Wealth Fund, Axa Insurance, and the World Council of Churches.