The sovereign wealth fund of Norway announced it will sell investments in fossil fuel companies while all their money comes from their own Norwegian oil rigs. The Rockefeller foundation announced it will sell its stake of about 5% in Exxon Mobile oil as it deems oil to be bad for the world. J.D. Rockefeller founded Standard Oil a century ago. It made him the first billionaire of the last century. The company was forced to break up into many smaller companies, today’s Exxon Mobile being one of them.
Two big investors whose fortunes come from oil are leaving oil.
Ethical investment ideas are gaining support all the time. Conspiracy theories are blaming big oil for creating cartels as early as the 1930’s, carving up the world, setting prices, all to boost their profits.
At the same time, the world is moving and factories are producing on a daily basis mainly burning fossil fuel. We are consuming about 80 million barrels of oil every day. Oil moves the world. It moves you every day. Without oil, the world would stop moving. Transport and production need it.
Clearly, the oil era is coming to an end. Peak oil (highest production levels while replacing empty fields by newly found ones) is here. We find less new oil than we would need to replace declining fields. The world is moving away from oil, albeit slowly.
Yet, as we still need our daily dose of 80 million barrels every day.
Our pension funds rely on oil dividends to secure our pensions.
Is it evil to invest in the companies that supply for our need?