Santa Clara County Supervisors vote to divest from Fossil Fuel Companies

Contacts: Carlos Davidson 650-784-1276
Cynthia Kaufman 650-270-8857

The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted this morning to divest the roughly 10 billion dollar county investment pool from fossil fuel companies.

Over the last two years the county investment pool has let expire 30 million dollars in Chevron andExxon bonds. The resolution means the investment pool will not buy any new fossil fuel company bonds to replace them, and the fund will remain fossil fuel free.

Santa Clara County is already experiencing the impacts of climate change, through rising sea levels, drought, heat waves, and increased wildfires, which are negatively affecting human well-being and the environment. Board of Supervisors President Otto Lee said, “Santa Clara County has recognized the urgency of the climate emergency. By updating our investment policy to restrict future fossil fuel investments, we are ensuring our public funds reflect our commitment to climate action.”

Twenty-one community groups sent a joint letter to the Supervisors urging them to divest from fossil fuels. The divestment campaign was led by Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action, 350 Silicon Valley, and the Pacifica Climate Committee. Carlos Davidson of the Pacifica Climate Committee said “Just like with divestment from tobacco and South Africa Apartheid, by divesting we bring attention to the fact that the power of the fossil fuel industry is the single biggest obstacle to government action on climate change.“

Cynthia Kaufman of Fossil Free California said, “We are so proud of Santa Clara County for taking this step. The fossil fuel industry helped put Donald Trump in power. It is supporting the very forces that have caused a more than $450 million hole to emerge in our county’s budget. The industry is doing everything it can to be able to continue our dependence on its destructive product. It is time for people of good conscience everywhere to stop working with such a destructive industry.”

The International Panel on Climate Change concluded in 2018 that we have 12 years to make dramatic cuts in the use of fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas and tar sands) if we are to keep warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and avoid more catastrophic changes.

By divesting, the county joins over 1,500 institutions worldwide with over 14 trillion dollars in assets that have already divested, including the San Mateo, Napa and Sonoma County investment pools, State of New York Retirement Funds, the Vatican, United Church of Christ, Episcopal Church USA, Unitarian Universalist Church, World Council of Churches, the University of California, the California State University System, and the local cities of San Jose, Palo Alto, Sunnyvale and Mountain View.