The Divestment Movement Has Cost Organizations Billions Of Dollars

The Divestment Movement Has Cost Organizations Billions Of Dollars

Share to Linkedin IMAGE DISTRIBUTED FOR DIVESTINVEST - Co-founder and chief investment strategist of GMO Jeremy ... [+] Grantham lays out the financial case for divestment at the Fossil Fuel Divestment State of the Movement event on Monday, Sept. 10, 2018, in San Francisco. (Alison Yin/AP Images for DivestInvest) The purpose of the divestment movement is to starve fossil fuel companies of the investments they need to develop new resources. Activists are attempting to address fossil fuel consumption by curbing supplies. I always thought the divestment movement was an odd way to try to curb fossil fuel consumption. I think about it in the same way I think of shutting down pipelines. When you curb supply without a commensurate decrease in demand, you cause the price of oil and gas to rise. That, in turn, causes the value of the companies that produce the oil and gas to rise. Increasing the price of a commodity is an effective way to decrease its consumption over time. However, as I have repeatedly noted, politicians who preside over high energy prices tend not to get reelected. So, even as organizations are taking actions to reduce supply and drive prices higher, politicians — even