Heirs to Rockefeller oil wealth join push to divest from fossil fuels

The Rockefeller family, which made their vast fortune in the oil industry, plans to divest a total of US$50 billion from fossil fuel investments. The Rockefellers will be joined by charities and other wealthy individuals.

"There is a moral imperative to preserve a healthy planet," said Valerie Rockefeller Wayne, a great-great-granddaughter of oil magnate John D. Rockefeller Snr and a trustee in the largest charitable foundation in which the family still plays the leading role.

The Global Divest-Invest coalition will announce new pledges and members one day before 120 heads of state address the United Nations on how their countries will contribute to a global effort to halt climate changes, including a dangerous rise in temperatures.

Since the divestment movement launched three years ago, some 650 individuals and 180 institutions, including 50 new foundations, which hold over US$50 billion in total assets, pledged to divest from fossil fuels over five years using a variety of approaches.

One of the signatories is the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Stephen Heintz, the president and an heir of Standard Oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, said the move to divest away from fossil fuels would be in line with his relation's wishes.

Since January 2014, commitments by campuses, churches, cities, states, hospitals, pension funds, and others in the United States and abroad have doubled, from 74 to 180, according to philanthropic giving consultancy Arabella Advisors.